Kosovo Calling
by Lakshimbai
Summary: Gibbs and the team are sent out to a strange country to solve two seemingly straightforward murders. Language barriers, odd traditions and plenty of the local alcohol lead to adventures, plus there is a murderer to find, and all is not as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: NCIS and all its characters are not owned by me, but by Bellisarius and CBS. I do, however, own any characters you don't recognise.

A/N: A recent holiday to Kosovo opened my eyes to what a fabulous, unique country it is (or will be once the UN lets it be independent). It is utterly crazy, and all the people there are slightly mad, but everyone is also wonderfully friendly and welcoming. The oddity of some of the conditions seemed to good an opportunity to waste, and I couldn't resist sending Gibbs and company over there. A brief, very brief, history is that Kosovo was a province of Serbia in the old Yugoslavia, but when Yugoslavia broke up, the Serbs began to take basic rights and liberties away from the mainly Albanian Kosovans. This ended up in many Kosovans being killed, and NATO invaded in 1999 to prevent the Kosovans being slaughtered. The UN followed, and they're still there. Kosovo isn't an independent country, because the UN is still there, but it probably will be soon.

This is my first attempt at the NCIS fandom, so please read and review. All constructive criticism welcome (of course anyone who was no criticism to offer is also very welcome!). This is set at some unspecified time in Season 2, when McGee was still new and nervous, and Kate was still alive.

* * *

Tony was flicking paper clips at Kate – a pastime that never got boring as far as he was concerned – when Gibbs stalked into the bullpen, throwing an empty coffee cup into the bin as he did so. 

"Grab your gear," he barked. Tony and Kate exchanged long-suffering looks, while McGee leapt to obey. Gibbs was clearly in a foul mood. Wherever they were going, this would not be a fun day.

"Where're we off to boss?" Tony asked, as he quickly grabbed everything he thought he might need.

"Pristina." Gibbs spat the word out. He looked around at his team, aware that it was hardly fair to take out his bad mood on them. It wasn't their fault they were being sent to the back end of nowhere. His tone softened slightly. "You'll need your passports and a couple of days' worth of clothes. Meet me at the airport in 90 minutes. Oh, and pack your weapons in your case – the Brits don't like guns on planes."

As Tony, Kate and McGee made their way down to the parking garage, Tony said, "So where the hell is Pristina?"

"Kosovo," Kate answered shortly.

"Great." Tony brightened up considerably. "Loads of hot European girls."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Kosovo is a Muslim country and Ramadan starts in a couple of days. Ramadan Tony? The Muslim month of fasting and prayer?"

"I do know what Ramadan is Kate." McGee winced as their sniping continued. With Gibbs in one of his moods and Tony and Kate snapping at each other, it looked like being a _very_ long day.

* * *

The most direct route they could find was to fly into London's Gatwick Airport and transfer on to a British Airways flight to Pristina. Gibbs had explained the little he had been told – two dead Marines in two days – and then settled into a stony silence, apparently set on drinking American Airlines dry of coffee before they landed in London, leaving Tony free to flirt with the stewardesses in peace, broken only by the occasional comment from Kate. Eight hours later, they arrived in London with just enough time to transfer to the other terminal and make their way around the seemingly vast airport to their gate. The 737 was only partially full – at least half the seats were empty – and, through the curtain, Tony noticed that there was only one person in Club Class. 

He stood up and went to chat to the tall, pretty stewardess. McGee watched, feeling the familiar flash of jealousy as the stewardess laughed at something Tony said. He wished he had the same easy way of talking to women. Kate followed his look and sighed. "Tony! Just sit down and get out of the way!"

Gibbs looked up from the newspaper he was reading. "DiNozzo! Get your ass over here!"

Tony walked back down to them and leaned on the headrest of the seat in front. "Yes boss?" he asked innocently.

"You better have a result," Gibbs growled. He was tired and these airplane seats were damned uncomfortable after the first three hours.

Tony's grin widened. "When have I ever let you down? Don't answer that," he added hastily at Gibbs' expression. "Jenny, the very pretty stewardess over there, agrees that we do need our own jet, but said that, for the moment, you and me, boss, are upgraded to Club."

Gibbs' face lit up with his lightening fast, rarely seen grin as he moved to the forward section of the plane. Tony turned back to the other members of his team. "Sorry, there was only room for us two," he said, sounding distinctly unrepentant.

"Tony!" Joint cries of protest from McGee and Kate only made Tony's smile brighten as he settled into the comfy, spacious Club Class seats.

* * *

He could get used to the British way of doing things, Tony considered as the 'Fasten Seatbelt' sign lit up on the approach to Pristina. A choice of free magazines and newspapers, an endless supply of whatever drink he named, and a three course meal served on real china plates had made the flight very enjoyable. Especially as he knew Kate and McGee were having to rough it in Economy. Tony made a show of stretching and yawning once they landed, causing Kate to grit her teeth. 

The terminal building was distinctly unimpressive as they lined up for Passport Control. After the briefest of glances, their passports were stamped with the UNMIK logo and they were waved through to Baggage Reclaim. Which wasn't there. Instead of the usual conveyor belt, there was an arrow pointing back outside. Baffled, the NCIS team joined everyone else from their flight under an underpass and waited. After a few minutes, a jeep pulled up towing a container piled high with all their luggage.

"You have got to be kidding," Kate said, her eyes wide. This was meant to be the capital city's airport?

"Apparently not," Gibbs replied as he elbowed his way through the crowd. Fortunately, their luggage was near the top and Gibbs and Tony managed to get it quickly. Leaving everyone else to squabble over who owned what, Gibbs led his team through Customs – one very bored looking policeman who was reading a newspaper – and out into the bright Kosovan sunshine.

"Special Agent Gibbs?" A tall, spare Marine with closely cropped blond hair called out. "Captain Joshua Barrett, sir. Both of the dead Corporals were under my command."

"I hope you can tell me what's going on," Gibbs said sharply. "We've had no information and no explanation as to why we were called in."

"Everything will be explained, sir, just not here. I'll explain when we get you to your hotel. We hired two interpreters for you: Isak Mirovic and Edvina Yashi." Isak was shorter than Gibbs with short, dark hair and a scruffy beard. Edvina had shoulder length blonde hair, dark eyes and high Slavic cheekbones. Tony increased the wattage of his smile, and was rewarded with a shy smile from Edvina and an elbow in the ribs from Kate. Barrett smiled. "Welcome to Pristina, Agent Gibbs."


	2. Chapter 2

Tony sat in the front of the Landcruiser, next to Isak who was driving. Gibbs had insisted Kate went with him and Captain Barrett, mainly because Gibbs never trusted anyone unless he had to and he wanted the profiler's opinion on the Captain. Despite being used to Gibbs' driving, Tony could not help but wince as Isak manoeuvred them through Pristina's busy streets. Apparently, Kosovan driving was a case of point the car in the direction required and step on the accelerator. Braking was rare. The notion of 'give way' was non-existent. The whole experience was further enhanced by roads pitted with potholes, some of them really rather deep. Isak kept up a running commentary on the various sights as he drove.

"Up there's KFOR hill. Good shopping – if you don't mind the army. We're on Bill Clinton Boulevard now. Good man. Saved us from those bloody Serbs. Your people wanted to put you in the Grand Hotel, but Edvina and I insisted on Hotel Royal. Grand Hotel comes with hot and cold running cockroach." He stopped talking to laugh and have another puff on his cigarette. Isak had smoked almost continually since they had got in the car. His English was excellent, albeit heavily accented. They bounced through another couple of potholes. "We will have to take you out for proper Kosovan meal, eh Edvina? With plenty of raki. You like raki Tony?"

"Sure," he agreed easily. "How 'bout you Probie?" McGee nodded warily and Tony laughed.

"What is Probie? I thought your name was Tim," Edvina asked.

"Er, it's actually short for Probationary Agent," McGee explained. "I'm still fairly new at this."

"We should call you Probie then?" Isak asked, a mischievous gleam in his eye. Tony decided he really liked this guy.

"No!" McGee said, a little too quickly. "That's just Tony's idea of a joke. And not a very funny one," he said, staring hard at the back of the Senior Agent's neck. Tony ignored him.

They pulled up outside the Hotel Royal, leaving their cars in the middle of the road as they unloaded the luggage. Tony noted with amusement that no one seemed to mind them blocking the street, they just drove around them, using the pavement if necessary. The Royal was a blocky, concrete structure, obviously a throwback to the Communist era, and looked dilapidated and rundown from the outside. Inside, however, was a different story. While most of the furnishings in the reception were a little tired, it was clean and tidy and clear that the staff put a great deal of effort into making it look as best as possible.

Once they had checked in (and Tony found to his horror that he had to share with McGee while Kate and Gibbs got a room each), the team assembled in the lounge, where Isak had already ordered coffees for everyone, and raki for himself and Tony. Yep, Tony thought, really going to like this guy, as he took a sip of the strong, local liqueur. It burnt the back of his throat, but it was still good.

"OK Captain. Explain." Gibbs had to admit these Kosovans did good coffee. Even if they did serve it up in too small a cup.

"Corporals Smithson and Franklin had been stationed out here for a few months, up at Prizren in the mountains. They both had a couple of days leave and came down to spend it in Pristina. The next day, Franklin was found stabbed to death in one of the building sites. Smithson was alive and well at this point, but he was stabbed that night. Left in a different building site. Waste of good men," the Captain finished bitterly.

"Autopsy reports?"

"They're up at the base, I can get you a copy by morning."

"Send them back to our ME, Dr Mallard. Was there any forensic evidence?"

"Dust from the building site seemed to obliterate any evidence, and then the KPS utterly destroyed the crime scenes." The fatigue in the Captain's tone was genuine, Tony thought. He seemed truly upset by the loss of his men.

"What's the KPS?" McGee asked.

"Kosovo Police Service," Edvina answered. She made a dismissive gesture. "All they are good for is drinking coffee and smoking. They know nothing about crime."

"Exactly," Barrett nodded. "Which is where you come in. The American military presence in Kosovo is fairly small, and we don't have the resources to investigate this ourselves. As Edvina said, the KPS is useless, so we called in your team."

Gibbs leaned back in his seat, taking a sip of coffee. It was a reasonable explanation, one that rang true to him, but that was no reason to start trusting the Captain unduly. "Who do you think did it then? Locals annoyed at the UN and American presence?"

Isak looked offended. "We Kosovans do not think much of the UN, but we love you Americans. And the British. If it wasn't for you, the Serbs would have slaughtered us all. American soldiers get bought drinks in any bar in Pristina. It might be a local, but not for political reasons."

"Do we know what bars they were in?" Tony asked, filing away the 'free drinks' information for use later on.

Barrett shook his head. Gibbs nodded, almost to himself. "Tomorrow morning, Tony, Kate get on that. Take Isak and Edvina with you."

"On it boss."

"Sure Gibbs."

"McGee, you're with me. We'll head up to Prizren and have a chat with people at the base. Now, I suggest we get an early night."

Isak and Tony exchanged glances. "Uh, boss, I think Isak would like to show us around a little," Tony ventured.

"Of course! It would not be right to not welcome you properly. Our friend has just opened a restaurant of his own, and we would like to take you there. He is preparing a traditional Kosovan meal." Isak smiled hopefully.

"Which is what?" Kate asked.

"A whole lamb, cooked to perfection," Edvina explained.

"And lots of raki," Isak added.

The NCIS team looked at each other. "Sounds great," Tony said. The others nodded, a little less sure. Tony, however, felt like he fitted in instantly. Kosovo was his type of place.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed, it really makes my day to get a little feedback, so keep it coming!

* * *

Isak and Edvina took them to a small, softly lit restaurant on the outskirts of Pristina. The owner, a tall, dark haired man, welcomed them both with a hug and proceeded to hug each NCIS agent who was introduced to him, Captain Barrett having made his excuses and returned to the base. Tony laughed as both McGee and Gibbs tensed up as the owner, whose name was Blerim, hugged them tightly. While he wasn't too hot on the whole hugging thing himself, Tony at least could cope with it better than his team mates. Kate was very popular with Blerim – he instantly got her a shot of sambuca, complete with a couple of coffee beans in the bottom of the glass.

"Bottom's up Kate," Tony muttered to her.

"Shut up Tony." She choked as she knocked back the fiery liquid. Blerim clapped her on the back and rushed to get her another one. "I hate you Tony," Kate coughed.

"Why is it my fault?"

"Everything's your fault." The four agents, plus the Kosovans, squeezed into a small booth, while Blerim delivered a couple of bottles of red wine and a plate piled high with tomatoes, cucumber, cheese and peppers.

"This is the starter," Isak said, and Tony realised that he was nervous about whether they would like it. McGee was eying the platter of food a little suspiciously, and Tony suddenly realised what this meant to the Kosovans. Isak kept mentioning that the Americans were heroes to Kosovo, and it was terribly important to these people to impress the NCIS team. The country was desperately poor, but he hadn't met a single Kosovan who hadn't offered him everything in his power to make his stay more pleasant.

Decision made, Tony leant forward and scooped a handful of cheese and tomato on to his plate. "This looks great," he said sincerely, earning him an odd look from Gibbs. Isak smiled broadly and Tony felt him relax next to him. Edvina and Kate were talking and giggling in the corner, and the others were starting to relax as well.

By the time they had cleared that plate of food, Blerim had brought another one, equally loaded with salad. Somehow, he made space on the crowded table, and another two waiters carried in the lamb. McGee went pale went he saw the head had been cleaved in two and presented at the front of one plate, while the main body of the lamb was on another vast plate. The feet had been removed, but everything else was still visible. Even Tony, determined to show the Kosovans how much he was enjoying himself, quailed slightly, as he wondered how they were meant to tackle it. Luckily, one of the waiters carved large chunks of meat for everyone, before disappearing. Blerim waited anxiously.

"You like?"

Tony took one mouthful and closed his eyes in bliss. The lamb was cooked to absolute perfection – moist and tender, while still full of flavour. "This is fabulous," he managed. Blerim looked pleased and went to take care of other guests. Isak beamed with pleasure.

They all tucked in heartily, discovering that Tony was right: the lamb was fabulous. Everything was going really well, Tony thought as he drank another shot of raki, and that was the moment that Isak announced that Gibbs, as guest of honour, had a special role. A small fork was produced and handed to Gibbs, who raised his eyebrows.

"The brains are very good and only offered to the guest of honour," Edvina explained. Gibbs froze and turned to look at the girl, an expression of utter horror in his eyes.

"Semper Fi boss," Tony murmured, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. As expected, he was rewarded for his wit with a smack on the back of the head. Gibbs took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. He tasted a very small morsel before blinking in surprise and having some more.

"Tastes like warm pate," he said in answer to his team's wide eyes.

After that, the evening kind of passed in a blur for Tony. Edvina, who had looked really sweet and innocent, challenged him to a drinking competition, but after that, things got rather blurry. He was sure he won the competition, but Edvina seemed to think differently. But her forfeits couldn't be that bad, he reasoned, so he agreed that she had won and he would do the forfeit.

The moment when the forfeit was revealed was emblazoned on his mind though. Edvina's face, which he decided wasn't so pretty, had lit up in a wicked smile as the lamb's eyeballs were presented for his delectation. He had a feeling that he threw one at McGee, who shrieked like a girl, but he couldn't be sure. He did remember dancing around the small restaurant with Edvina, and then a very pretty lady who spoke only Albanian. By this time, Tony thought he spoke Albanian too, however, so they got on very well.

Gibbs was watching his team relax, a small smile on his face. They rarely got a chance to let their hair down, so it was good to see them all enjoying themselves. He wished that Abby and Ducky were with them, but the Director had vetoed that. Not enough money, and not enough equipment in Kosovo anyway. Kate had finally given in to Blerim's constant hints and was dancing with him, her hair loose down her back as she bounced to the music. McGee had, as only McGee could, found a young lady who had been quite interested in him until he started speaking about megabytes and pixels and other stuff Gibbs didn't really understand. From the looks of McGee's new friend, she didn't understand either.

Tony had a crowd of admirers now. Four women were hanging off his every word, while another two were getting him more drinks. Not that he needed any more alcohol, Gibbs thought severely. That boy would have a headache in the morning. But he had done well that evening. As usual, Tony made friends easily, and as usual, Tony had made the difference. The Kosovans would probably have been a lot less helpful in the morning if it hadn't been for Tony's enthusiasm. Gibbs watched his Senior Field Agent fondly. He would make a good team leader one of these days. But not just yet, Gibbs thought wryly, as Tony staggered slightly from the sheer amount of raki he had consumed that evening.

Isak nudged Gibbs and grinned. "Tony is a lot of fun, no? Practically a Kosovan," he said contentedly.

Gibbs nodded. "We'd better head off, Isak. Long day tomorrow." He fought his way through the crowd of women and said softly, "Come on Casanova, time for bed." Tony blinked a couple of times before actually focusing.

"I'm not drunk boss. Honest." Gibbs had to admire the younger man's determination. Despite having drunk almost a whole bottle of raki, and a couple of glasses of red wine, Tony managed to sound almost sober. Until you looked closely, and noticed the flushed cheeks, wide eyes and the way he spoke a little more carefully than usual.

"Yes you are. No arguments." Kate and McGee met them out by the car, and Gibbs pushed Tony into the back seat. "McGee, make sure he drinks a gallon of water before he goes to bed. We have a lot of work to do."


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't fair, McGee knew. It simply wasn't fair. Tony drank a bottle of raki and was absolutely fine, while he had a couple of beers and one or two shots and had a pounding headache. And he had to spend the day with Gibbs. It really wasn't fair. Gibbs – naturally – was his usual self, in that he managed to be civil after two cups of coffee. They had been provided with a battered, old Jeep and headed off early into the mountains to visit the Marine base near Prizren.

Gibbs had taken to the Kosovan way of driving like a duck to water, as he battled his way out of the busy Pristina streets. McGee fought down a wave of nausea as taking a corner on two wheels coincided with him looking at the directions they had been given. They made no sense whatsoever. "Uh boss…"

"Yeah McGee?"

"I think they gave us the wrong directions." McGee winced as he imagined the impending explosion.

"Well what do they say?" Gibbs snapped impatiently.

"Take the main road out of Pristina, the lion, elephant, snake. It's nonsense boss."

Gibbs grinned to himself. It was moments like these that made the job so much fun. He sighed, a little theatrically, but it was so easy to scare McGee. "The UN designated roads with animals so that every nation can understand directions. You'll see the signposts when we turn off this main road." McGee looked uncomfortable and Gibbs hid another smile. It was almost too easy to scare McGee. At least with Kate and Tony he had to put a little effort in.

The lion-marked road led them up into the mountains, on roads that deteriorated rapidly. The roads in Pristina had been bad enough – it seemed as though if Kosovans got bored, they dug a hole in the road. And then forgot to fill them back in. But the mountain roads were worse. Considerably so. McGee was deeply relieved to be in a 4x4, and wondered how on earth the locals coped in their battered cars.

The scenery made up for the state of the roads though. The mountains were beautiful, the trees just beginning to turn into their autumn colours, so everywhere they looked was a riot of reds, oranges and yellows. Small streams burbled happily alongside the road, which led them over stone bridges and past old villages.

The occasional village that they did pass through presented sobering images. They were half-abandoned, and those who had stayed looked as though they wished they had not. Houses were dilapidated and some still bore marks from the war several years ago. Bullet holes and bomb damage were prominent. Men and women who had seen too much stared at them as they drove past, eyes blank and uncaring. Only the children seemed unaffected, still playing as normal.

There had been three road blocks on the mountain road, but the first two they had encountered had simply waved them through, leaving McGee wondering what they were guarding against, if not two strange men in an unmarked Jeep. The third road block, however, was a different matter. Manned by the Ukrainian army, they had already pulled over another van, so Gibbs slowed to a crawl and pulled over. The captain, judging by his insignia, motioned for them to roll down their window and then said something incomprehensible.

Gibbs frowned and then said, "We're American. Speak English?" The Ukrainian jabbered something back and seemed to be pointing at the road. "Get the papers out McGee," Gibbs muttered, before handing the soldier their vehicle licence papers, and their passports.

In the end, after much gesticulating on both parts, McGee fighting to keep a straight face at Gibbs miming that he was a federal agent (it looked more like he was pretending to be a cowboy), the Ukrainian called over another soldier.

"I speak little English," he offered.

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Well, couldn't you have come over a little sooner? Never mind," he added, as the soldier frowned in concentration. "We're federal agents. Investigating a crime. We need to get to Prizren." Slowly and loudly, Gibbs went through it all again, minus the hand movements this time.

"You are FBI?" The soldier had a wide grin on his face. "Like on movies?"

Gibbs heaved a pained sigh. "Yeah, I'm FBI."

They were waved through quickly after that, the Ukrainians shouting that they loved the Tommy Lee Jones and Clint Eastwood. Gibbs drove off quickly, and glared at McGee. "One word to DiNozzo about this, McGee…." He didn't need to finish the threat.

Prizren turned out to be a pretty little town surrounded on three sides by the mountain range. Overlooking the town, a monastery perched on the side of one the mountains, while just below it was the German army base. The Marine base was out the other side of the town. Gibbs quickly navigated the one-way system and they soon found themselves at the gates of the Marine base.

Unlike several of the other bases they had driven past, the gate here was at least guarded, with people who looked alert as well. Showing their ID, they were waved through and met by Captain Barrett, accompanied by another man.

"This is Colonel Hunter, Special Agent Gibbs and Special Agent McGee." Barrett made the introductions and then stepped back. Hunter was a short, almost square man, with dark hair and startling blue eyes. Those eyes seemed incongruous in the tanned, Latino face, and stared sharply at the NCIS agents.

"Glad you could make it Agent Gibbs," Hunter's voice was deep, with a hint of a Southern accent. "Shall we use my office?"

His office was sparsely decorated, but Gibbs barely noticed. "I need to know everything about Smithson and Franklin, and I'm gonna need their service files."

"They warned me about you," Hunter said, rolling his eyes. "Special Agent Jethro Gibbs: always impatient and rarely polite." Gibbs stared blankly at the man, and Hunter smiled, a sudden flash of white teeth in the tanned face. "I said, sounds like a good Marine. I had those files dug out for you this morning, and I've ordered everyone to make time to speak to you."

"Thank you Colonel. McGee, take the captain with you and see what you can find out from his friends." The door had barely shut behind McGee before Gibbs grinned and leaned forward to shake the other man's hand. "Good to see you again sir."

"And you Gunny. Thought you'd be dead by now," Hunter smiled back.

"Nearly. A couple of times over. But I keep going. So what's this really about sir? NCIS does not send out their best team just because two Marines got killed in what sounds like a bar-room brawl."

"Ah, Gunny, still as straight-forward and modest as always…" Hunter sighed and stood to look out of the window. "I don't think you're going to like this."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: A short note this time: Edvina's hangover cure was suggested to me while I was out there, but I didn't try it. Oh, and the Bar Tirana does exist, and looks very similar to how I've described it. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!

* * *

Tony kept smiling until McGee, looking harried, left with Gibbs. Only then did he collapse back on his bed and hide his aching head under the pillow. Groaning softly, he promised himself he would never, ever drink that much raki again. The hotel telephone rang, jarring his head until even his eyeballs ached. Eyeballs – that brought up unpleasant images. 

"What?" he asked, a little more sharply than he had intended.

"What did you do? Get out the wrong side of bed this morning?" Kate's voice sounded unnaturally chirpy, Tony thought darkly. "You wouldn't have a hangover, would you?"

"I'm fine, it's just Probie snores like a chainsaw," he replied, managing to push himself into a sitting position. The room spun for a moment, but he kept talking, careful not to alter his tone. "Why are you ringing my room Kate? Wouldn't want to be thinking about the possibilities of you, me and a hotel room with Gibbs out of the way, would you?"

"Tony!" Even down the telephone, Tony could see the horrified look. He grinned: maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all. "If you could get your mind away from sex for just a second, you'd remember we have some actual work to do. Edvina and Isak are meeting us in ten minutes in the lobby. We need to canvas the bars, see where our corporals went."

Despite protests from most muscle groups in his body, and the insistent throbbing behind his eyes, Tony was only ten minutes late for their meeting. Dark glasses hid his eyes, and he had pulled on his warmest turtle neck to try to prevent the shivering, but he felt like death warmed up. Really needed to stop drinking that much raki, he considered.

"Sorry, I got held up," he offered, and because of the look on Kate's face, he added, "There was the pretty girl in the elevator, and damned if we didn't get stuck between the floors." Kate rolled her eyes, but Isak and Edvina laughed.

"In Kosovo, it's considered a bonus if you show up on the same day as the meeting," Isak said.

Kate looked incredulous, but shook her head, and left it at that. "We should split up; cover more ground. You know Gibbs will want a result by tonight."

"For once I agree with you Katie," Tony grinned. "Edvina, why don't you come with me and Isak, you take Kate out. I am the Senior Field Agent," he reminded Kate as she opened her mouth to object.

He walked slowly down the road with Edvina, having decided that each group would take one of the three main streets, and then they could meet in the middle for lunch. She shot a sly glance at him. "Too much raki?" she asked innocently.

He started to shake his head, but found it made his vision swim. "Yeah," he conceded. "It's strong stuff."

"Then we must start off with a, what do you call it, hangunder cure?"

"Hang_over_."

"Yes, that too." Edvina led him to a bar, where she was greeted like a long lost friend. "Ardien, this is Tony, one of the Americans I was telling you about. And he has a hangover." She glanced quickly at Tony, to see if she got the word right, then nodded to herself.

Ardien, a handsome young man with a bright smile, clapped Tony on the shoulder and laughed. "I'll get you Edvina's cure." He disappeared into the kitchen.

"Come here often do you?" Tony asked the interpreter.

"All the time. I like my alcohol."

Tony frowned in confusion. "So you're not Muslim then?"

"I am."

"But you drink alcohol, and wear, well, lovely clothes, but revealing ones." Edvina's top today was cut low, while her jeans were skin tight.

"I am Muslim, I'm just not very good at being a Muslim," she replied, laughing. Edvina seemed to spend a lot of time laughing, Tony realised. Ardien emerged, carrying a tall glass with a milky fluid in. Tony eyed it suspiciously, so Edvina said, "It's fine, trust me."

Deciding that he might as well, as he couldn't possibly feel any worse, Tony took a deep breath and downed the glass. At first taste, it seemed to be just milk, watered down a bit. It tasted a little strange, but that was all. Then the taste of chilli hit the back of his throat and he gasped.

"Good, yes?"

"What the hell is it?" Tony wheezed.

"Goat's milk with a hint of chilli," Ardien replied. "Edvina's secret recipe."

"A _hint_ of chilli? I think I've permanently burnt the back of my throat!"

"But you feel better, yes?"

Tony started to say no, but realised with a shock that his headache had gone, or at least dimmed in ferocity, and he was feeling a lot more energetic. "Actually, I do feel better. Not bad, Eddy, not bad. Now, we'd better get to work."

"Eddy! I am not an Eddy!"

* * *

Kate tried to hurry Isak along, but the Kosovan seemed to know every other barman they spoke to, and had to stop for a chat. They made slow progress, and had little luck in finding where their corporals had spent their night. The final bar they checked before breaking for lunch was the Bar Tirana, a small bar, lit by red lamps that made Kate feel as though she had stepped back into the Cold War. She expected to see spies in big overcoats nursing vodka and hiding in corners. Instead, it was empty except for a barman polishing glasses behind the bar. 

"Who's your pretty friend Isak?" he asked in English.

"I'm Special Agent Kate Todd, NCIS," she said, holding up her ID. "Have you seen either of these men in the last few days?"

She handed over the head shots of Smithson and Franklin. Caleb Smithson had memorable eyes – officially blue, they were actually almost violet, complimented by the fair complexion and blond hair, shaved to the standard Marine stubble. Jed Franklin was less memorable, dark eyes, dark hair, no distinguishing features. Kate doubted she'd even realise Franklin was in the room, he was so bland.

Unlike most of the other barmen, this one took a second look at Smithson. "He's familiar. Couldn't say when he was here though." He said something in Albanian and Isak nodded.

"He said he was here for Mother Teresa Day the other month, and he's seen him a couple of times since."

"What about Franklin?"

"No, not that I remember."

It was a start, Kate thought, as she and Isak made their way to meet the others for lunch. Tony and Edvina were already at the restaurant, and had ordered a bottle of red wine. "Feeling better then Tony?"

"Much," he replied, grinning at her in his usual way. As always, it irritated her that he was always so…._Tony_, but she was beginning to see Abby's point. He had a way of getting under someone's skin. Kate knew she'd never admit it, and certainly not to Tony, but she did like him. And he wasn't as dumb as she made out. She'd die before admitting it though, she thought, sitting down and pouring herself a glass of wine.

"Did you have any luck?"

"A few people remembered Smithson at one point or another, but no one saw Franklin."

"Same as me," Kate sighed. "Something's not right about this. How can two friends go out together, but no one sees one of them, and then they get killed on different nights?"

"As Abby would say, this is hinky." Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Gibbs hates it when things get hinky."

"What's hinky? Is it like hunky?" Edvina asked brightly. Kate and Tony exchanged looks, then started to laugh.


	6. Chapter 6

Gibbs was quiet on the way back to Pristina. Not the usual, I'm-Gibbs-and-I-don't-talk-much quiet, but the far more dangerous, angry-as-hell quiet. McGee opted for the diplomatic option and said nothing, even trying to breathe quietly, just in case. His own day had not been productive. Smithson was a popular guy around the base, but Franklin might as well not have existed. No one but Smithson seemed to be friends with him, but equally no one had a bad word to say about the man. Franklin was just someone no one noticed. An unusual choice of best friend for a man that everyone else wanted to be close to.

Their service records had held little of interest either. Franklin's was unremarkable, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, which in itself was a little odd. Most Marines had some discipline notation, or some special skill, or had passed a specialist course. Franklin had nothing. He was the average Marine, except McGee had never met an 'average' Marine before.

Smithson was a little more interesting. He had passed a sniper course, with a record score, and also done a stint of covert operations. The file held no details about the nature of those ops, as usual, but did say that he had performed admirably, and should be considered for promotion soon. An odd pair, McGee thought. A very odd pair.

They found Tony and Kate in the hotel bar, comparing stories from the day. To McGee's surprise, Gibbs seemed to relax slightly when he saw the other agents. Just as strangely, Gibbs skipped coffee in favour of a shot of bourbon. Kate raised an eyebrow, but no one said anything. Gibbs threw himself into one of the armchairs around the table they had commandeered and took a gulp of his drink.

"Can we get Abby and Ducky on speaker phone?" Kate rang them on her phone, as Gibbs had looked blank when she tried to explain how to use the speaker phone. "Abby, get Ducky, I need to talk to you both." Abby obviously sensed Gibbs' mood across the ocean, as the ME was there in record time.

"Have you read the reports yet Duck?"

"Yes Jethro, and I must say, they are very interesting." Ducky's clipped tone came clearly over the speaker. "One of your corporals has some interesting scars; it reminded me of a case I saw in France once, where there was this spy for the French resistance, who had been captured by the Germans. Now, his back bore similar marks…"

"Not now Duck!" Gibbs snapped, patience wearing thin.

"Ah, yes of course. Well, the autopsies showed that both men died of almost identical stab wounds, both to the side of the neck, severing the jugular vein. They would have died instantly."

"That sounds more like a professional hit than a bar room brawl boss," Tony remarked, leaning forward in his chair so his voice would be heard clearly over the speaker.

"Anthony is correct, I surmise Jethro. One stab, instant death."

"Thanks Ducky," Gibbs said tiredly, rubbing his hand over his face in a rare gesture of fatigue. "Abs, I need you to do me a favour."

"Sure thing bossman."

"I need to see Jed Franklin's service record."

"Uh, boss, we've already seen it. There was nothing pertinent in it." McGee held out the copy they had been given by Colonel Hunter. Tony took the file and began leafing through it.

"McGee, I was there, remember? Abby, I need to see the real file. You'll need to do some hacking, or whatever it is you do, and you can't let anyone know you're looking for it."

"Umm, sure, but where should I start?" Abby sounded a little confused.

Tony got there before Gibbs could. "I'd start with Pentagon files Abby, this guy was working deep undercover." Kate and McGee turned to stare at him and he shrugged. "I am a detective, you know. I do this sort of thing for a living. Stop staring at me Kate!"

"DiNozzo's right. If he's not military intelligence, he's CIA."

"That might take some time. CIA's not easy to hack." As always, Abby never sounded fazed by the work Gibbs gave her. She always managed it, whatever task he set her. One day, he thought, he'd ask her something truly impossible, just to see what she said. Then again, he couldn't think of anything that Abby would find impossible.

"We don't have time Abs. You've got eight hours."

"Gibbs!" Any more of Abby's protestations were cut off as Gibbs hung up.

"What's going on Gibbs? What aren't you telling us?" Kate asked, her eyes challenging and hard.

"Franklin was working on exposing some of the old warlords who are still in hiding. Some members of the UN and NATO are apparently helping them, and the warlords are changing into drug dealers and gun-runners. He was working on finding out where they were hiding, so they could be arrested for war crimes. But he was killed before he could report back." Gibbs looked down, wondering whether any of his team would hear the lie in his voice. He wished he could tell them everything.

"So there's a leak," Kate sighed. "Who knew who he really was?"

"Colonel Hunter knew his real reason for being here, but he was the only one on the base. Franklin was sent in direct from the Pentagon."

"So if he was killed because of all this, Colonel Hunter might be our leak," she put forward.

"No." Gibbs stated it baldly, refusing to qualify his statement.

"Where does Smithson fit in?" Tony asked, looking up from Franklin's file. "He wasn't part of this op, I'm guessing."

"Smithson appears to be collateral damage. Maybe he got too close to his friend and had to be silenced as well."

"If Franklin's a spy, then that would explain why he disappeared the night he was murdered," Kate mused. "Smithson had been seen in a number of bars, but no one had seen Franklin. Perhaps he was working on a lead."

"How are we meant to find out?" McGee asked.

Tony sighed and stood up. "Until Abby gets his real file, we need to do the same thing as him Probie: investigate the warlords. I'll call Isak and Edvina."

"But where do we start?"

"Where we always start, McGee. At the beginning," Gibbs replied.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers, please keep it coming! Hope you like the story so far, plenty more yet to come.

* * *

Gibbs waited until the others had left the bar before he dialled Morrow's number. The Director of NCIS picked up immediately, with a curt 'hello'. 

"Sir, you cannot expect my team to clean up everyone else's mess!" Gibbs snapped, not bothering to even try to be polite. "You are endangering my people, knowingly, and I'm not even allowed to warn them!"

"Calm down. No one is putting your team in danger."

Gibbs snorted in derision. "You want us to flush out the old warlords, find out who killed our two corporals, or whoever Franklin really is, and find out the leak in the chain of intelligence, all without any real backup, or information! Of course we're not in danger!" he sneered.

"For intelligence purposes, we cannot reveal any more than absolutely necessary. You know the policy on this Gibbs. Need to know only. I'm sorry." Morrow sounded genuinely apologetic. "If you tell anyone what you've been told, you're potentially endangering the whole theatre of operations in Eastern Europe."

"So you want my people to work with traitors, and not even be aware of this. One of these people is a trained killer. What if the next body left in a construction site is DiNozzo's? Or Kate's?"

"We don't know who the traitor is yet," Morrow kept his voice calm, trying to placate the other man.

"But you've got your suspicions!" A sigh was the only response that comment received. "My people need to know to watch their backs."

"I understand your feelings on this Gibbs, I really do. But your orders are the same as mine: no one knows the truth. It could ruin years of careful work." As Gibbs started to speak Morrow interrupted him, "No Gibbs, that's my final word on the matter." Gibbs flipped his phone shut and downed the rest of his bourbon in disgust.

"So why do we need to watch our backs boss?" Tony asked quietly. Gibbs smiled lazily, hiding his surprise at the younger man's sudden appearance. With Tony, it was easy to forget that the light-hearted exterior hid a highly trained agent, skilled at undercover operations. Tony was one of the few people who ever managed to sneak up on Gibbs, though he never told him that.

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know we've got problems." Tony sat back down in the chair he had recently vacated. "So who wants to kill us this week?"

"I can't say." Gibbs held up his hand, forestalling Tony's comment. "But, what I can tell you is that you can't trust anyone in this country. Only members of the team. Am I clear?"

Tony nodded, leaning back in his chair. His meaning had been perfectly clear. Without specifically saying anything, Gibbs had basically told him that Isak and Edvina were not to be trusted. Which was a shame, because Tony liked both of them.

* * *

When Tony rejoined Kate and McGee in the hotel conference room, which had been the deputy manager's office until they arrived, he was as bouncy as ever. Edvina and Isak were sitting there, helping sift through the vast amounts of information that UNMIK (the UN Mission in Kosovo) had sent over. Six files were open on war criminals wanted for questioning, while another three noted people who had already been arrested for war crimes. Looking at the names, Tony wondered how they were ever meant to remember them, let alone pronounce them. 

"So who do we have?" he asked, perching on the side of the table.

"So, we can rule out the three who have already been questioned for war crimes," Edvina said firmly.

"Rule them out for what?" Tony asked, playing his usual role of deceptively stupid playboy. Edvina seemed to know what they were talking about already. Now, unless Kate or McGee had been really dumb, not entirely out of the question, that meant she was suspiciously well informed.

"Of whatever it is you're interested in," Edvina said, as though it was obvious. "Two of them are not in the country, and Ramush Haradinaj is innocent. He would never be involved in anything hinky." She seemed proud to have learnt a new word, and Tony winced internally. He hated suspecting the people he worked with.

"If we knew how they were meant to be connected to this, we might be more help," Isak said tiredly.

"They're suspected of arranging the murder of one of the corporals. Something to do with gun running," Gibbs said from the doorway.

"Hmm. That would rule out these two," Isak said tossing aside the files. "They are well known for drug dealing, but I've never heard anything about guns." He and Edvina had a quick conversation in Albanian, before he carried on, "And this one is out of the country. Do not ask how we know," he added hastily. "These rumours go around Pristina all the time. You learn to listen when certain people tell you things."

"So we're left with Vladan Mandic, Goran Batic and Zeljko Tomanovic," McGee said, stumbling over the last name. "It could be any of them."

"DiNozzo, Kate, McGee, take one of them each. I want to know everything about them. Mother's maiden name, favourite colour, food allergies, every damn thing. Got it?" Gibbs snapped. He gave Isak and Edvina a hard look as he left them to it. According to what Colonel Hunter had told him, one of them was very likely the killer. Not that Gibbs had ever been one to believe what he was told though. Not even when it came from an old, trusted friend.

* * *

Abby found Ducky in autopsy, working on his latest customer with Palmer assisting as always. "Ah, Abigail, what can we do for you?" Ducky smiled at her. 

The ME's perpetual good humour made her smile in return, despite the news she had. "Jimmy, would you be a sweetheart and get me a Caff-Pow? Thanks," she grinned as Palmer practically ran out of the autopsy theatre. "I do like them well trained."

"And Mr Palmer is always so anxious to please," Ducky rejoined dryly. "But I doubt that is what you wanted to discuss my dear, and the fact that you asked Mr Palmer to leave suggests that you wish to discuss what our friends are up to this time."

Abby jumped up on to one of the spare autopsy tables, pigtails swinging. "I'm going to get in _sooo_ much trouble if anyone finds out I hacked into CIA personnel files. And Gibbs is really not going to be happy. I mean, this guy was pretending to be a Marine, but was actually CIA and now Gibbs and everyone is stuck in the middle of nowhere without a clue who the raving lunatic trying to kill them this time even is!"

"Jethro and the others are more than capable of dealing with this situation," Ducky said soothingly. "And it's unfair to call Kosovo the middle of nowhere. It was once the furthest reaches of the Ottoman Empire you know, and there used to be some stunning examples of Islamic architecture and art. Of course, that was before the war destroyed much of it."

Abby let Ducky's lecture wash over her. She had had too much practice to even notice that she had zoned him out. Ottoman architecture or not, Kosovo was far down her list of favourite places at the moment. However nice the place was, it was impossible to disguise the fact that her friends might get hurt, and maybe even killed while they were over there.


	8. Chapter 8

Gibbs had to admit it: Abby was good. She had emailed him the file he had requested in only four hours. He really had to speak to the Director about getting her a pay rise.

_Personnel file for Josiah Damian Franklin (DOB 23/10/74)_

_History:_

_Born in Carthage, Missouri, attended Abraham Lincoln High School, and graduated with full honours and a scholarship to Harvard. _

_Majored in Economics, with a special emphasis on the economics of the developing world. Minored in Politics, showed great interest in notions of security._

_Noted basketball player, and was on the Harvard Crimson first team for his final year._

_Was approached by recruiting officers at the start of his final year: showed promise and was employed after his graduation._

Gibbs flicked through reports on his training, and pysch evaluations, skimmed briefly over the reports of previous missions. One or two caught his eye, as he recognised the place names, but he quickly found the page he was looking for.

_Operation Floodgate: briefing_

_In order to prevent the spread of gun-running throughout Eastern Europe, it is imperative that we ensure we have reliable information concerning the individuals involved. This will involve setting up a network of informants throughout the Balkans, but primarily concentrated in Serbia and the province of Kosovo._

_It is essential that we are able to establish a presence in Kosovo before it is granted independence in order that we are better able to guarantee the security of the US from these illegal gun deals. The Muslim population of Kosovo could be susceptible to al-Qaeda, and thus it is of vital importance that we have a network already in place._

_The primary aim of Operation Floodgate is to turn certain high ranking followers of the Serbian warlords into informants and to create a secure system of communication. With the military presence in Kosovo at the moment, it would seem advisable to place agents in the armies there, as this will not trigger suspicion: new personnel being posted there all the time._

Gibbs fought the urge to shoot the computer – spies had a way of making him angry. It was the way they never told the truth, even when they could. Lying was ingrained, and second nature to spies, and Gibbs hated that. Sure he could lie with the best of them when he had to, but that was different. He only lied to protect his team, or to ensure that justice was served. That was different, he assured himself, ignoring the awkward voice of conscience that pointed out spies lied under much the same conditions.

There was another email from Abby, this one read: _Found a note attached to Franklin's main file. It won't show up normally, but hey…I'm brilliant._ He opened the note, read it and silently agreed with Abby. She was brilliant.

The note was from the Deputy Director of the CIA (Operations branch) and read: _Jed, I know I'm asking a lot, but you're our best hope. The mole must be found, and you're the only agent we have attached to this op that I trust implicitly. Be careful, there may be more than one leak. Trust no one._

Gibbs leaned back in his chair. So what he was faced with was a dead CIA agent, who had been investigating a leak in the chain of communication in a network of informants and agents, all of whom were trying to find and control the Serbian warlords, who potentially all had vast stores of weapons and ammunition. Just fantastic.

Something was tugging at his mind from the file, but he couldn't place it. It had occurred to him as odd that Isak and Edvina were automatically suspected of assisting the mole. From the Deputy Director's note, it was clear that they were not the main leak, as he obviously believed it was one of his agents. Colonel Hunter had been very specific though: Isak and Edvina were not to be trusted. A little too specific, now Gibbs came to think about it. Was he covering for someone else? And if he was, why on earth would he do that?

Gibbs shook his head – this was why he hated spies. They made him distrust everyone and everything, even old friends. The thought that had been clamouring for attention at the back of his mind suddenly surfaced: the briefing had said they would place agents in arm_ies_, plural, not just the American one. So now he was looking for a mole somewhere in the thousands of soldiers currently stationed in Kosovo. The day officially couldn't get worse.

* * *

Tony had managed to have a quiet word with Kate and McGee and warned them to be careful around the translators. Both had been as shocked as he had felt, although Kate seemed to take it especially hard. She and Edvina had become friends in the short space of time that they had known each other, and had spent a good deal of time gossiping together. 

"But she told me all about her boyfriend!" Kate protested. "I mean, we talked a lot, and she seems really genuinely friendly."

"I know," McGee frowned. "Both her and Isak have done everything possible to help us. I can't believe either would do anything like this."

"Edvina has a boyfriend?"

"Tony, don't you ever think about anything except sex?" Kate looked exasperated. "Yes, she has a boyfriend, his name is Ardien, and he's a waiter."

"I think I've met him. Strange, she never mentioned that this morning." Tony changed the subject abruptly as he saw Isak come back into the room, returning from yet another cigarette break. "Are you getting anywhere with looking into Batic, Isak?"

The Kosovan shook his head. "It's as though he's disappeared. Batic has never kept a low profile before. I can't understand it." He sighed. "I think I may go home for the night. Well," he grimaced looking at his watch, "What is left of the night anyway. Perhaps when I am not so tired, something will change." Kate sympathised with him; it was 3am, and they had all been working non-stop all day. Lunch had been the closest thing she had had to a break all day.

Tony waited until Isak had left the room before slipping into his jacket as well. "And where are you going?" Kate asked, one eyebrow hitched in surprise.

"I'm following a suspect," he said, rolling his eyes. "I know this is tricky to understand, Katie, but don't you think it would be a good idea to see if Isak is up to anything?"

"By yourself? DiNozzo, that's the stupidest idea you've had in ages, which is saying something. You don't the city, you don't speak the language…you're going to get lost!"

"DiNozzos never get lost." He flashed them one of his trademark grins as he slipped out of the room. Kate and McGee could only watch through the window as he caught sight of Isak and followed him at a discrete distance, disappearing around a corner and out of sight.


	9. Chapter 9

"He did what?!" Kate and McGee flinched at the same time as Gibbs yelled at them. "You let DiNozzo wander off into this damned city without any backup, and then you waited an hour before telling me? What do you think you are doing, trying to get him killed?"

"He was armed," McGee offered, trying to stem the tide of Gibbs' anger.

"Oh, well, that makes it all right," Gibbs snapped, his sarcasm biting. "One gun will make sure he's fine, especially since he doesn't have any spare ammunition, and we're up against trained killers who have already taken out two good men. Yeah, Tony will be just fine." He pulled out his cell and hit the speed dial. "Dammit DiNozzo, pick up your phone!" Flipping the phone shut, he glared at the other members of his team. "He's not picking up. His phone is switched off. Still think he's fine with no cares in the world?"

"Well, how are we meant to find him Gibbs?" Kate's eyes were tight with worry, her voice sharper than normal.

"Did Abby ever get around to implanting that subdermal tracking device?" McGee asked. "She kept saying she was going to, because Tony had a habit of wandering off…" He trailed off as he realised the accuracy of Abby's statement.

"Don't just sit there – find out McGee!"

* * *

It turned out that DiNozzos did get lost. Tony had followed Isak easily to his house, where the man had apparently cooked himself dinner and sat down to watch television. Tony had managed to peer in through the window, and seen Isak slumped in an armchair with a bottle of beer, looking like he had very little intention of moving again for what was left of the night. 

Giving that up as a lost cause and waste of time, Tony had attempted to head back to the Hotel. Attempted was the right word, unfortunately, as the winding and confusing streets of Pristina defeated him. Without street lights in many places, they were dark and full of pot-holes that threatened constantly to twist his ankle. He had walked for what felt like ages before he saw a familiar face.

Ardien, Edvina's boyfriend, was just in front of him. Tony was on the verge of calling out to him, remembering how helpful he had been over his hangover, but stopped when he saw who he was talking to. He couldn't place the guy, but the face seemed familiar. He had spent the entire night, along with Kate and McGee, sifting through files of war criminals, or suspected war criminals, and there was something about that man's face that seemed familiar. He sidled closer, as silent as a wraith, and was rewarded by a better look at the stranger's face.

Tony hid a smile. Well, well, well. There's a thing, he thought complacently. Lumni Castirovic. Vladan Mandic's right hand man. No such thing as coincidence, Tony reminded himself wryly, as he slid a hand into his pocket, turning off his cell phone. This was one time when he couldn't afford for a phone call to interrupt. This could be the thing that broke the case. Ardien and Castirovic conferred for a while, in Albanian to Tony's dismay, before they went their separate ways. Which one to follow was a dilemma that Tony could have done without, but it was soon solved. Castirovic was a wanted man, while he already knew where Ardien worked. It would be easy enough to find him in the morning.

Tracking Castirovic was relatively easy, except for the dangers presented by Pristina's streets, and Tony had soon followed him back to a beautiful mansion that looked straight out of the French Riviera. The vagaries of Pristina's architecture never failed to amaze Tony: one moment all that was visible were ugly, rundown tower blocks, but the next street would hold perfect replicas of French mansions, painted in an array of pastels.

Even better news, as far as Tony was concerned, was that he vaguely recognised this street. He might even be able to find his way back to the Hotel now. He took a careful note of where he was, and strolled back towards the Hotel Royal, able to enjoy his walk now. The pre-dawn half-light helped, as at least he could see where he was going now.

He was whistling as he walked into the make-shift conference room, confident of a job well done. He was unprepared, therefore, for the death glare he received from Gibbs, complemented and copied by Kate and McGee.

"What did I do?"

"Tony! You turned your cell off, and none of us knew where you were, if you were OK, or if you were dead!" Kate huffed, anxious to be rid the cold burn in the bottom of her stomach that had appeared when Gibbs had pointed out the stupidity of letting Tony go out alone.

"You'd better have some results," Gibbs growled, as relieved as the others to see his Senior Agent safe and well, but even less likely to show it.

"Boss, have a little faith, huh? I know which warlord we need to concentrate on." Tony sighed as he sat down, exhausted by his trek around Pristina. "Vladan Mandic is your man, boss, and his lieutenant is very friendly with Edvina's boyfriend."

"How on earth do you know that?" Kate rolled her eyes. Tony rolled his in return, and set about explaining his adventures.

"So DiNozzos do get lost then?" McGee asked, grinning at Kate.

"No, DiNozzos do not get lost, I was simply stretching my legs and momentarily forgot where I was," Tony backtracked. "Besides, it doesn't count as lost if you find something helpful."

Gibbs bit back a laugh and smacked Tony on the back of the head instead. "Just don't do it again. Take McGee with you next time, then you can get lost together."

"But does this mean Edvina is our leak?" Kate frowned, still unwilling to think of the cheerful blonde girl as a traitor or murderer.

"Don't know yet. We'll find out in the morning," Gibbs said, stretching as he stood up.

"Uh, boss, it is the morning," McGee pointed out. A look from Gibbs was enough, no words were necessary. "Right, um, later on in the morning. Gotcha."

"Just get some rest," Gibbs said wearily. If the rest of his team felt anything like he did, they were desperate to get a few hours rest. A full night's sleep would have been very welcome, but he would make do with two or three hours.


	10. Chapter 10

Refreshed and revitalised by a whole three hours of blessed sleep, Gibbs felt almost human again the following morning. And it appeared, for once, things were working out neatly. If Tony's guess was right, and Gibbs saw no reason to doubt that, then Ardien was the source of the leak. It remained to be seen whether he got the information from Edvina willingly or otherwise, but it looked as though NCIS had saved the day. Again. Not, he thought darkly, that anyone would ever give them any credit for it.

The occasional dark thought was not enough to dim the optimism that swept through him though, and he was feeling positively cheerful by the time he had finished his second cup of coffee. Dispatching his team to their duties for that morning, he walked with Tony to the café that Edvina had said Ardien worked at.

Kate and McGee were due to brief Edvina and Isak on developments and try to arrange a couple of arrest warrants from whatever authorities needed to be contacted. The legal state of Kosovo meant that it wasn't clear who should be approached, so he had left McGee to sort out that particular minefield.

"Remind me why you came here in the first place," Gibbs asked the younger man, smirking slightly as he saw Tony flush. "I mean, it's not on the route that you and Kate said you canvassed. In fact, this café would have come under the area Kate dealt with."

"Uh, that's not really an important detail right now, is it boss?"

"Hungover?"

Tony opened his mouth to deny it, shot a look at Gibbs and changed his mind. Just because he seemed in a good mood didn't mean Tony should push his luck. "Something like that," he muttered.

Luckily for Tony, Ardien appeared at that moment and greeted them warmly. "Ah, Edvina's friend. Are you feeling better today?"

"Much better. This is my friend Special Agent Gibbs. He'd like to get to know you a little better," Tony smiled easily at their suspect. Ardien shot a quick, panicked look around him, but smiled calmly back at them. "You wouldn't mind having a little chat with us now?"

The young man shook his head regretfully. "I have to work."

He turned to go, and came face to face with Gibbs, who grinned at him. "Sit down sonny. We've got business to discuss." Ardien looked about to object, so Gibbs stepped in a little closer, and put his hands on Ardien's shoulders. "Sit down," he said, still polite but with an undertone of anger. Ardien sat down.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" the Kosovan asked guardedly.

"The usual, you know, the weather, the economy, your love life…." Tony kept smiling, although it was an effort. "Lumni Castirovic. You know the usual."

Ardien swallowed, suddenly a lot less confident. "Lumni who?"

"Don't play games with us kid," Gibbs growled. "We know you know Castirovic, and we want to know all about him, Mandic and what all of this has to do with you."

"And please don't bother with the 'I no speak English routine'," Tony said, leaning back in his chair. Ardien shot him a look loaded with hatred, but Tony smiled happily. "Well, Ardien, answer the nice American."

Another moment of silence, and Gibbs' temper frayed slightly. "What do you know about Vladan Mandic?" When Ardien again remained silent, Gibbs slammed his fist into the table, causing the Kosovan to jump. "Vladan Mandic! Now, talk!"

"I know American law," Ardien said confidently. "You cannot do anything to me. Your laws protect me." His voice may have been confident, Gibbs thought, but his eyes said he was scared. Time to play with him a little. Gibbs nodded to Tony, who was obviously following his train of thought, and grabbed Ardien's arm. Together they marched him out of the café, staying silent despite Ardien's protests. People eyed them oddly as they walked down the street, but no one said or did anything to stop them. Even a member of the KPS ignored Ardien's increasingly frantic cries for help.

They made their way to a quiet, dead end alley and let go of him. Ardien looked warily around him, evidently searching for an escape route. The only way out of the alley, however, was through Gibbs and Tony. Tony was in the process of drawing his gun, ostentatiously cocking it. Gibbs watched as Ardien swallowed, hard, his face pale. Time for stage two of the plan.

"You're right, you know," he said conversationally, slipping out of his jacket and beginning to roll up his shirt sleeves. "American laws do protect suspects in custody. They do mean that we are not allowed to torture anyone, and if we mistreat someone, that evidence is not admissible in court. But, and this is an important point, we're not in America. Isn't that right DiNozzo?"

"That's right boss. And no one knows Ardien is with us, do they?" Tony smiled brightly.

"No they don't. So no one will know what we do to him." Gibbs stepped a little closer, and Ardien backed up until he walked into the wall. "So, unless you want to talk Ardien, I hope you've got some health insurance."

"No wait!" Ardien cried out, his hands up protectively in front of his face. "OK, I tell you about Mandic! He asked me to start dating Edvina when he found out she did a lot of translating work for the Americans! I get her to tell me whatever she hears around the base, and I pass it on to Mandic! That's all, I swear!"

Gibbs glanced over at Tony, who winked back at him, before holstering his weapon. "I can't believe you fell for that old trick." Tony shook his head and laughed at Ardien. "Oldest trick in the book and you fell for it."

"Let's get him back to the hotel, and hopefully McGee will have worked out how to get arrest warrants in this country," Gibbs said, grabbing hold of Ardien's arm again. "Come on, kid, I need some coffee, so don't dawdle."

They made their way back to the Hotel Royal, Ardien hanging between them, head drooped on to his chest, the picture of defeat. Gibbs was alarmed, however, to catch a glimpse of the real Ardien, beneath the mask of repentance. The Kosovan kept his eyes on the ground for the most part, but every now and then would shoot a look of absolute hatred at Tony, who was apparently oblivious to this. Always Tony, Gibbs thought sourly, they always managed to fixate on Tony. Something about him clearly wound people up the wrong way. Gibbs vowed to keep a close eye on Ardien. That man wasn't beaten yet, despite his act, and he had no intention of losing a member of his team. It occurred to Gibbs briefly that they had no idea who actually killed Franklin and Smithson, and, at the moment, Ardien was the best suspect they had.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I know this is a quick update, but I want to get this moving along a bit, and we're coming up to an exciting bit. Some reviewers have suggested everything's going a bit too well, and as anyone who watches NCIS knows, you should always be suspicious of things going too well! The team will be finding that out shortly. But first...

* * *

Kate patted Edvina's shoulder awkwardly. The girl had her head in her hands and was sobbing disconsolately. Kate had broken the news about Ardien as gently as she could, but Edvina had taken it very badly; she hadn't stopped crying yet. McGee had volunteered to face the minefield of Kosovan law rather than talk to Edvina, and he and Isak had all but run out of the room at the first sign of tears. Men, Kate thought derisively, were absolutely no use when it came to emotional problems. A wail from Edvina reminded her that she wasn't doing particularly well herself. 

"No one blames you," she assured the girl.

Edvina lifted her tear stained face, an odd light shining in her eyes. "I will kill him for this!" she declared. "He has made a fool of me, and I will kill him!" She broke off in a string of Albanian, most of which sounded like curses of some description. Kate sat there uneasily, agreeing with the sentiment, but hoping that Edvina did not decide to follow through on this one. "No, better – I will get my uncle to kill him!"

"Edvina…"

"He has shamed me, and made me look stupid Kate! How could I have fallen for it?" Edvina started sobbing again. "He made it look as though I was a traitor! How could he?"

"I don't know. But we've got him now."

"And will you kill him?" she asked hopefully.

"Probably not," Kate hedged. They were interrupted by Gibbs who sat down next to the girl and handed her a cup of coffee.

"Here, drink this," he said shortly. When Edvina only stared at him, he added, "Coffee with a lot of raki added. Guaranteed heartbreak recovery formula." Edvina managed a shaky smile and took a gulp of the coffee, choking slightly as the alcohol burned her throat. Gibbs motioned for Kate to walk outside with him. "Where's McGee?"

"He's with Isak, getting arrest warrants. Isak said something about needing to go through the UN for this, so they're over at UNMIK HQ right now." Gibbs nodded absently. "Gibbs, do you think Ardien is the killer?"

"Why'd you ask?"

"I just hope not, for Edvina's sake." Kate looked back into the room, where the translator was still weeping over her coffee. "I feel so sorry for her."

"If he's not the killer, Kate, that means we've still got a dangerous murderer on the loose." Leaving her with that depressing thought, Gibbs made his way back to where Tony was keeping an eye on Ardien. The hotel had a basement with a stout lock, and this had been turned into a makeshift interrogation room.

Ardien, hands handcuffed behind his back, was sitting on a wooden chair glaring at Tony, who was unconcernedly playing with his phone. He looked up when Gibbs entered the room though.

"Hey boss, what's new?"

Gibbs turned to their prisoner. "I have some bad news. I think Edvina's going to dump you. Or kill you. One or the other."

"Well, boss, waiter boy isn't saying much else, except for what I think were slurs on my family history, but they were in Albanian, so I have no idea what he said." Tony shrugged carelessly, giving a very good impression of someone who could barely summon the energy to care about the investigation, but Gibbs saw the concealed watchfulness behind the light-hearted banter and knew Ardien wasn't going anywhere soon.

"We don't really need him to say much more, DiNozzo. He's already told us pretty much everything we wanted." Ardien practically snarled at that comment. "I doubt anyone who scares as easy as he does could have killed Franklin and Smithson, DiNozzo. What do you think?"

"Nah, he's not got the guts," Tony rejoined, grinning broadly.

A stream of invective in Albanian came from Ardien before he switched to English. "You know nothing about me! I fought in the war, I killed men!"

"So did you do it?" Gibbs challenged him.

Ardien paused for a second, sucking in a deep breath. "Almost you trick me again! I am telling you nothing!" He went back to insulting them in Albanian, which Tony and Gibbs happily ignored.

* * *

McGee found Kate still consoling Edvina. The girl had stopped crying now, but was looking increasingly drunk. "I'm going to kill Gibbs," Kate hissed at the younger agent. 

"What's he done?"

"Edvina's had enough raki that she can barely stand, and any time I try to speak to Gibbs about it, he simply tells me to give the girl another shot!"

"Maybe he means shoot her," McGee offered.

"Not helpful," Kate snapped. "Did you get the warrants?"

"Sort of."

"How do you sort of get a warrant McGee?" Gibbs asked, appearing in the doorway.

McGee, eyes screwed shut as though he could already see his impending death, kept his back to Gibbs. "Well, UNMIK say we can have the warrants, but the KPS want to take charge of our suspect. They say that since Ardien is Kosovan, he should be in their custody."

"And did you agree?" Gibbs stood close behind McGee, speaking softly into his ear.

"Um, well, I didn't really have much choice…" McGee ground to a halt as Gibbs whacked the back of his head. "Sorry boss."

"Ardien is our suspect, wanted for the murder of two Americans, McGee, and you've just signed him over to some half-wits who everyone agrees couldn't catch a cold, let alone a criminal!" Gibbs sighed and said in a calmer voice, "So who are the arrest warrants for?"

"Vladan Mandic and Lumni Castirovic. And the KPS say we can keep them."

"Fine, pick up Castirovic, and then find me Mandic. We're not done here people, not by a long shot."


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: A quick apology for anyone who lives in Mitrovica - I've never been there, and have made everything about the place up. It may well be the loveliest place in the world. I do know that it is a hotspot for trouble in Kosovo though, because it is so close to the border. Edvina's story is also made up, although that sort of thing did, unfortunately, happen during the war. The tear gas incident, however, is not made up but was told to me by a friend out in Kosovo. As always, please let me know what you think.

* * *

Abby was missing the team, and feeling a little left out, and so to cheer herself up, she was dancing around her lab to the sounds of Led Zeppelin. For some unknown reason, classic rock always cheered her up when she was feeling low. It was blaring so loudly through the speakers that she totally missed the phone ringing. It was only after she had sung her way through the _Whole Lotta Love_ that she noticed the blinking red light that showed a call was coming in. _Stairway to Heaven_ was just starting when she picked up. 

"Hello!"

"Abby?" Gibbs hollered to be heard over the music.

"Hey Gibbs, how's the case?" Abby shouted back happily.

"Turn the music off!"

"But _Stairway to Heaven_ is one of the greatest songs of all time, and has one of the best guitar solos!"

"Abby, I swear, if the music isn't off in the next five seconds, when I come back, I will shoot your record player!" When the music continued to boom out, Gibbs yelled, "One! Two! Three!" The music clicked off. "Thank you," he breathed, in a far more normal tone of voice.

"So, how's the case?" she repeated her question. "And it's a CD player, not a record player. They went out with the dark ages."

Gibbs decided to ignore that last comment as it would only lead to a ten minute conversation he didn't have time for. "Well, we've got one leak, but I doubt he's responsible for everything that's gone wrong. He's too low level. Can you get me files of every CIA operative working on Operation Floodgate?"

"Gibbs! I'm going to get in so much trouble for hacking into the CIA again," Abby complained, already beginning to type in the script that would get her past the first firewall.

"I'll say it's all my fault," Gibbs reassured her, a smile in his voice. "Can you do it?"

"Are you doubting me?"

"Never," he chuckled. "Thanks Abs."

"Hey! Can I ask you a favour, as I'm so wonderful?"

"Go on," he said warily. The last time Abby had asked a favour he had had to pick her up from a party at 4am. He'd been invited inside and had spent a confusing ten minutes talking to someone who apparently only spoke Klingon. Surprisingly, they had got on quite well, despite the language barrier. Abby later told him that his new friend believed he was the Klingon equivalent of a Marine, which would explain a lot.

"Can I come with you next time you guys go on a trip? I miss you all," Abby said, pouting at the speaker phone.

"Abby…" he groaned. "You're not a field agent."

"Pleeeease!"

"How about I bring you back a present, and we'll talk about it later?" Gibbs always found himself wondering why he always caved in to Abby's requests, however outlandish they were. She always put a smile on his face, though, and he hung up the phone smiling and shaking his head. He knew he'd never let Abby out in the field. There was too much danger, and he wouldn't risk her getting hurt.

* * *

Isak and Tony had been dispatched to pick up Castirovic, while Kate and McGee tried to find Mandic. In the end, it was McGee's computer skills that tracked him down. Mandic may have been in hiding, but that didn't stop him having a cell phone. The GPS locator beacon placed Mandic in the town of Mitrovica, near the Serbian border. Kate drove, and McGee relaxed in the front seat – this was far pleasanter than Gibbs' driving. 

"I can't believe he tried to stop me going," Kate complained. Gibbs had needed to be convinced to let Kate and McGee go by themselves, and had only grudgingly given in.

"Well, Mitrovica is the main trouble spot in Kosovo," McGee said. "It's where most of the ethnic trouble still is. I guess he's a bit concerned."

"He's sent me and Tony out to the Tri-Border Area in Paraguay without a second thought," Kate pointed out.

"Mitrovica is very dangerous," Edvina said quietly from the back seat. She had been very subdued since the raki had started wearing off, and was very pale. "It was where my parents were shot."

"Oh my God, Edvina, I'm so sorry," Kate said, her tone horrified. The poor girl was having a horrific day. "What happened?"

"He was in the KLA and his troop got captured by the Serbs. We used to live just outside Mitrovica, and the Serbs took my father and his friends back to their village and shot everyone. I was lucky, I was at school in Pristina when it happened." She looked out of the window, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I lost most of my family that day."

"That's terrible," McGee said, twisting in his seat to look at the translator.

She shrugged. "It was war. Such things happened all the time. Once, when I was at school, the Serbs threw tear gas through the window, just because they could. They were laughing at us as we ran outside." She paused for a second and seemed to give herself a mental shake. "But Mitrovica is still not a nice place. You must be very careful there."

Mitrovica was a grey, dirty town that had little sign of the prosperity of Pristina. Pristina was not the cleanest city, but it was possible to see progress being made, as satellite dishes sprouted from almost every building and the economy was booming. For McGee, who had seen the pretty mountain town of Prizren, Mitrovica was a shock. In Prizren, the Kosovans appeared to have noticed that litter did not attract tourists and had made the centre of town a pedestrian area that was clean and well-lit. Mitrovica was neither.

According to the locator beacon, Mandic was hiding out in the town's only hotel, a dank, dingy establishment called the Hotel Zvecan, after the medieval fortress just outside the town. McGee and Edvina went in through the front of the hotel, while Kate covered the back. The receptionist looked startled to be confronted by an American federal agent bearing a gun, and it quickly became apparent that Mandic was the only guest, staying on the top floor.

Motioning for Edvina to stay behind the corner, McGee banged on the door. Edvina peered around the corner of the corridor and called out in Albanian for Mandic to open the door. Muffled bumps could be heard from inside the room, so McGee took a deep breath and shot the lock off. Dashing into the room, he was just in time to see Mandic clambering out of the window, balancing on the ledge that ran around the top of the hotel.

McGee rushed to the window and found Kate staring up at him helplessly. She shrugged and shouted, "We can't just shoot him McGee! Do something!"

"Uh sir?" he called out, as Mandic shuffled along the ledge, obviously making for the large tree that grew close to the hotel. "Sir, please come back."

Edvina peered anxiously out of the window and repeated his comment in Albanian. Mandic paid no attention and kept moving forward. Swearing under his breath, McGee holstered his weapon and started to climb out on to the ledge himself. "What the hell are you doing?" Kate yelled. "You'll get yourself killed!"

Mandic looked around in shock that anyone would follow him and made a desperate grab for the tree. For a moment it looked as though he had made it, but the branch he was holding on to snapped under his weight and he plummeted to the ground, smashing into the grass below with sickening force. Kate rushed over and checked his pulse. Grimly, she shook her head.

"Oh God," McGee said, half exclamation, half prayer.

"McGee, get back inside now!" Kate watched apprehensively as he inched his way back along the ledge and let out a long sigh of relief as he slipped back into the hotel.

"You were very brave," Edvina said admiringly. McGee nodded once, before rushing into the bathroom, and throwing up. Kate found him taking a couple of grateful sips of water.

"Let's get back to Pristina and tell Gibbs the good news," she said tiredly, patting him on the back.


	13. Chapter 13

Lumni Castirovic shifted uncomfortably on his chair. In the corner of the room he could see Ardien Dragan also handcuffed to a wooden chair. The erstwhile spy had headphones over his ears to prevent him hearing anything and had already been told, in no uncertain terms, what would happen to him if he spoke at all. Castirovic ignored the younger man – failures held no interest for him. All they had asked Ardien to do was date Edvina Yashi and get information from her. Hardly a difficult task, and yet here they both were.

Gibbs was watching both of them carefully. Castirovic, unless Gibbs was reading him wrong, looked like he might be willing to broker a deal. The top men in organisations were often more ready to deal than the others – they had become accustomed to an easy life and usually wanted to keep it. While he was often unwilling to make any sort of deal, Gibbs could see little way out of this one. Ardien clearly wasn't the only leak, and finding out who the other mole was could prove to be impossible. Cutting a deal with Castirovic might be distasteful, but it was better than never finding out the truth.

Talking through Isak, Gibbs told Castirovic of his employer's death. "So the good news is that you're now the head of a big criminal organisation. The bad news is that we're now going to hold you responsible for that organisation, and that includes the deaths of two American Marines."

"One was not a Marine." Castirovic smiled wolfishly. "I do not think people would be pleased to learn the CIA are here."

"Not my problem," Gibbs replied. "Your problem, however, is that you're going to jail for a long time. Oh, and the War Crimes people in the Hague called, said they wanted to talk to you."

Castirovic winced. American jail was not where he wanted to be. The Hague would not be too bad – he'd probably be able to bargain his way out of too much trouble. He sighed and switched to perfect, albeit accented English. "We both know where this is going Agent Gibbs. As you Americans say, cut to the chase." Gibbs simply raised an eyebrow. "I will tell you all I know about the identity of the person we have working for us, and you will not charge me with those murders."

"As long as I don't find out you actually committed them," Gibbs agreed.

"Then it is agreed."

"Yep. So talk."

* * *

Tony, Kate and McGee were sifting through the files that Abby had emailed over to them. Fifteen CIA operatives were involved in Operation Floogate, not counting the dead Jed Franklin, and one of them, at least, was a traitor. Tony leaned back in his chair and scrubbed a weary hand over his eyes. 

"We're never going to figure this out by ourselves. There's no way of knowing if any of this lot are double-crossing the CIA, not without bringing them all in, and I doubt we'll be allowed to do that."

"When have rules ever stopped us before?" Kate asked, her voice as tired as Tony's.

"When breaking the rules could mean death for fourteen innocent people," Tony answered. "If we blow their cover, and they're legit, what do you think will happen Kate?" She winced as the realisation hit her. Tony shook his head, trying to clear the fluff from his tired brain. "I'm going for coffee, anyone else want some?"

Luckily for Tony, he thought far enough ahead to bring Gibbs coffee as well, as the ex-Marine had joined the group around the table by the time he returned. "Who's watching our prisoners?" Tony asked, eyebrows raised.

"KPS came for Ardien ten minutes ago," Gibbs growled, shooting a glare at McGee, "and Castirovic has agreed to deal. I left him secured and I've got the only key. He's not got any reason to try to escape."

"Castirovic is going to cut a deal?" Kate asked incredulously. "I thought we didn't deal."

"Are you getting anywhere with these files?" Gibbs snapped. When his team shook their heads, he continued, "Then we need to deal. Besides, it looks as though he's given us some good information. Is there anyone in the French army in those files?"

"Two boss," Tony replied, digging out the files. "We have Paul Howard, who's pretending to be Staff Sergeant Patrice, which sounds like a girl's name, Rocher, and Carlton Bell, who is now Corporal Alain Thomard."

"Check into them. Castirovic claims the mole is in the French army, but that only Mandic knew exactly who."

"How are we going to check into them?" McGee wondered. "They've got top secret security clearance."

Gibbs glared at him and left it to Tony to answer. "Probie," he sighed, putting an arm around McGee's shoulder, hurriedly shrugged away by the younger man. "Probie, you graduated MIT. Surely you can guess what we're going to do? Then again, maybe not. We're going to check out their bank accounts."

"We are?"

"Well, you are," Tony smirked. "You're the geek."

"Right, because money is the primary motive behind turning into a double-agent," Kate nodded.

"So what are you guys going to do?" McGee wanted to know.

"You know, sit back, relax, and watch you work," Tony grinned.

Gibbs whacked the back of his head. "No, you and Kate are going to search Castirovic's place and then Mandic's, see if we can find anything."

"Just what I was going to say boss." Tony smiled innocently. Gibbs rolled his eyes and hit him again.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I should probably point out that, as those who have read any of my other fics will know, I just make stuff up as I go along. So pay no attention to anything I write about hacking into bank accounts or backtracing which computer did what. About the limit of my technological knowledge is that I can post things on the Internet. And that's about it. Oh, and I'm quite good at playing sudoku when my boss isn't looking!

* * *

Tony was bored. Castirovic's house had turned up absolutely nothing, and a three hour round trip to Mitrovica with only Kate for company had done nothing to improve his temper. Especially as they had found nothing of interest in Mandic's hotel room either. It looked like being an utterly wasted day. Added to which, Gibbs had left him Probie-sitting while he and Kate went up to Prizren to update Colonel Hunter on their progress. 

McGee was doing his best to blank out Tony, but it was getting difficult. He had started by swinging on his chair, before adding humming tunelessly. Now the man had begun to fiddle with a spare pen, constantly clicking the nib in and out. "Tony!" When the other man only looked innocently at him, McGee gritted his teeth. "I can't concentrate with you doing that!"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Come on, Probie, an NCIS Special Agent is meant to be able to operate under all conditions, no matter how difficult or distracting."

"Speaking of distraction, does it still count as working if you're so busy ogling bikini models you don't do anything at a crime scene?" McGee snapped back.

"I was observing the general area," Tony replied, only to be interrupted by a beep from McGee's laptop. "So what does that mean?"

"Sometimes I think you're as bad as Gibbs," McGee muttered, tapping away at the keyboard. "I just know one day I'll see you hit a computer to make it go faster." He typed another string of commands in and leaned back, a satisfied smile on his face. "I've just hacked into the Gutzwiller Bank and got into Paul Howard's personal account."

"Gutz-whatsit?" Tony laughed, leaning forward to peer over the younger agent's shoulder. "Whoa," was his only comment when he looked at the deposit side of the page. "I think we might have our man."

"$30,000 in the last three months would suggest that," McGee replied dryly. He typed a few more commands and more information flicked up on to the screen. "The money came from account number 314AST45, from the same bank, so that shouldn't be a problem. Give me a second." Both agents grinned at each other as the name of the owner of that account appeared. "Vladan Mandic."

Tony was already flipping through Howard's file. "Says here he's stationed just outside Pristina. Let's go get him."

"Uh, shouldn't we wait for Gibbs? I mean, he kinda told you off for going off by yourself last time."

Tony patted McGee on top of his head. "No, he said to take you with me next time. And that's just what I am doing Probie, so grab your gun and let's go!"

McGee opened his mouth to object again, thought better of it and followed Tony out of the room, for once not taking the time to shut down his computer properly. On the screen, a box flashed up: _Backtrace successful. IP address of hacker is 801.251.434.7 Computer registered to Special Agent Timothy McGee. Sending information to account owners.

* * *

_

Tony drove them to the French base outside of Pristina, negotiating his way through the busy streets with only a few minor curses and near misses. The car screeched to a halt outside the gates of the base and, after a brief security check, they were waved through. The French guard had told them that Staff Sergeant Patrice Rocher, as Howard was claiming to be, was due to be in his personal quarters on the base, so they made their way to the small bungalow set aside for his use.

Signalling to McGee that he would cover the back, Tony made his way around to the rear entrance of the property, his Sig Sauer drawn and cocked, ready for action. The back door opened silently when he tried it, and he slipped inside the house, waiting for McGee to make his entrance through the front door. He heard McGee bang on the door, identifying himself as an NCIS agent. A noise from the front room put all of Tony's senses on high alert. As McGee continued to bang on the door, Tony made his way towards the front room, intending on capturing Paul Howard before he got the chance to escape.

Unexpectedly the door to the front room swung open and Howard, dressed in casual clothes rather than his army uniform, cannoned into Tony, knocking them both to the ground. "McGee! Get in here!" Tony yelled, as his gun was knocked out of his hand by the impact.

Howard recovered slightly faster than Tony and scrambled to his feet first, kicking Tony in the ribs as he did so. Winded, Tony gasped for breath and swore violently as Howard snatched up the gun, training it on Tony. McGee burst into the house then, freezing in position as he saw the tableau before him.

"Now, we're all going to take a deep breath and calm down," Howard said, hard brown eyes flickering between the two agents. "You, McGee, drop your weapon and kick it towards me. And if it accidentally goes near your friend here," he added ominously, "I'll shoot him. Got that?"

McGee did as he was told and Howard bent down quickly to get the other weapon. He stuck that gun in his belt, while keeping the other focused on Tony. "In the kitchen, both of you." McGee helped Tony to his feet and they walked slowly into the kitchen, hands behind their head as Howard directed. At a sign from him, they both sat down at the small table in the room, and placed their hands flat on the table in front of them.

Howard began pacing around the kitchen, and snarled, "Where's Mandic? I can't get hold of him, so do you have him?"

Tony shook his head. "Mandic is dead. He died trying to evade capture."

"Damn," Howard swore softly. He turned to look at the agents consideringly and neither Tony nor McGee liked the look on his face. "Still, I have a couple of cards left. You, kid," he said, indicating McGee, "go and get my car keys from my jacket pocket. Leave your cell phone here, and if you're not back in ten seconds, I'll shoot your friend. I won't kill him – I'll just shoot him."

It took McGee eight seconds to find the car keys, Tony knew; he was watching the second hand on his watch sweep around with increasing concern. "You're both coming with me," Howard said, tucking the gun away with the other one. Tony saw his chance and leapt for the man, sending them both crashing back to the floor. Desperately, he tried to pin the man down, but Howard was strong and agile and not as surprised by Tony's move as the agent would have wanted.

McGee watched anxiously, wondering whether his intervention would only make matters worse for Tony. The two men wrestled for a minute before a blow from Howard caught Tony on the side of his head and he lay stunned for a second. That was enough time for Howard to sit back and draw a gun. McGee started to move forward but was too late. The gun fired and Tony cried out in pain as the bullet slammed into his leg, just below the knee.

"That ought to slow you down for a bit," Howard grimaced, spitting out blood where one of Tony's punches had caught his mouth.

"Tony? Tony, are you OK? Tony!" McGee's voice sounded very far away to Tony, as he tried to focus on something, anything. The world had gone blurry, and was getting blurrier by the second. He looked down at his leg, startled to see the blood seeping out the wound and staining his jeans. When had that happened? His last coherent thought was that his favourite jeans were probably ruined for good, before his head slumped forward and the world went black.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner, but I've been off sick, and then had a plot bunny attack me (probably due to my weakened state), and one thing led to another...Basically, as always happens to me when I get near the end of a story, I get a great idea for my next fic, but this time the idea coincided with me having a bad case of flu, and not being able to move for 2 weeks.

I know, enough excuses. Anyway, on with the tale.

* * *

Gibbs was not happy, Kate knew, and when Gibbs was not happy, he liked to spread it around a little. Let everyone share that utterly-annoyed-to-hell-and-back feeling. The meeting with Colonel Hunter had not gone well. When Gibbs had politely pointed out that they had stopped one of the leaks (admittedly mainly through Tony's good luck), Hunter had equally politely mentioned the fact that they were no closer to finding the mole within the CIA, who was the real problem. Gibbs, for reasons best known to himself, had decided not to mention the deal they had cut with Castirovic and so had to concede that they didn't have any leads on the mole.

"Why didn't you tell Hunter what Castirovic told us?" she had asked at the start of their journey back to Pristina.

"Because Agent Todd, we don't know that the information Castirovic gave us is correct and Colonel Hunter seems to know an awful lot about the operation," Gibbs had snapped. Kate winced internally: she knew he was in a bad mood when he called her 'Agent Todd'.

"You don't trust Colonel Hunter?" Gibbs and the Colonel had seemed to get along very well, up until the argument over progress. They had been chatting like old friends.

"I don't trust anyone unless I have to."

"That may answer a lot about your marriages," Kate had replied instantly. She had received no reply, although she got the feeling that if she had been DiNozzo, a head slap would have been delivered. The rest of the journey was completed in an icy silence.

Gibbs stalked into their makeshift office and frowned in irritation. "Where the hell are DiNozzo and McGee?" he barked at Kate, treating her to one of his death-glares as well.

It had been a long couple of days and she was really, really tired. So, without thinking, she retorted, "How should I know? Telepathy?" Gibbs had said nothing, only glared at her until she pulled out her cell and dialled Tony's number. When that didn't work she tried McGee's. Looking worried, she said, "They've both got their phones switched off. Do you think they're all right?"

"How should I know? Telepathy?" Gibbs replied, half-grinning. It seemed his bad mood was passing slightly. He sat down heavily in a chair and jogged McGee's laptop. The screen flickered back to life as the screensaver was turned off. "Kate?" She came to peer over his shoulder, both staring at the message box on the screen.

"That's not good," she whispered to herself. _Sending information to account owners_ was not a good omen. "They know we're on to them now."

"Yeah, and where are Tony and McGee?" Gibbs asked, a frown creasing his forehead. He dialled Abby's number, getting diverted to the morgue. "Abby? Ducky, is Abby there?" He paused for a second, before snapping, "Duck I just don't have time for this right now – Tony and McGee could be in trouble!"

Kate barely heard the rest of the conversation, picking up only that Gibbs ordered Abby to find out what McGee had done, and where the backtrace had come from. She was too busy studying the files strewn over the table. The top file was that of Paul Howard, open at the page that showed where he was stationed. Kate began reading through the reports Howard had sent in about Operation Floodgate, making a note whenever she came across something odd. By the end of the file, she had covered a page in neat handwriting.

"What've you got?" Gibbs asked.

"There's something off here Gibbs. I mean, look at his reports compared to everyone else's. They're either reporting nothing at all, or one big bit of intel. Howard is either the best spy in the world, or hiding something. Every report of his contains a snippet of information, not much, just enough to convince someone that he's doing his job. Some of the supervisor's notes show that most of this intelligence is utter rubbish, but no one's managed to spot that he's making things up. Occasional bits of information are accurate, which obviously kept his supervisor happy, but most of the stuff he's come up with is wrong."

"Nice work," Gibbs commented.

"Doesn't tell us where Tony and McGee are."

"It's the first step," he said reassuringly. That worried Kate as much as anything else. Gibbs was never reassuring. He hadn't ever been reassuring before, not even when Tony was chained to Jeffrey White and they lost all track of him. He must be really worried. "I need you to find Isak and Edvina, get them over here. We're going to need all the manpower we can get on this one."

Kate nodded, standing up to go before another file caught her eye. Caleb Smithson. An innocent bystander in all this, killed savagely for no apparent reason by a professional, used to killing. She turned back to Gibbs, a lump in her throat. "Are they dead Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked concerned for a millisecond before he turned to her, looking a lot more like the Gibbs she knew. "They'd better not be, for their sakes," he growled.

* * *

Abby was typing as quickly as she could, running a diagnostic on McGee's laptop. Luckily, they had been chatting only the other week about which firewalls they each used, so she was able to hack into his computer easily. She widened her eyes as she saw the bank accounts in front of her. Ducky interrupted her reverie, placing a large Caff-Pow in front of her. 

"Thanks Ducky," she said sincerely. "I thought you said these were bad for me."

"They are," the Englishman replied gently. "But they make you work faster, and our friends need your help, so I am willing to overlook the damage this amount of caffeine will do to your liver one more time." Abby's grin was wiped from her face by his comment and she turned back to her computer soberly.

She dialled Gibbs' number at the same time as she started to locate the origin of the backtrace and where the messages had been sent to. He picked up immediately. "Anything Abbs?"

"Of course. Paul Howard's bank account, Swiss naturally, shows he's had $30,000 that he shouldn't have in the last three months alone. It's not coming from the CIA, Gibbs, but from another Swiss account, belonging to…hang on a sec….Vladan Mandic. That one of your baddies?"

"Yeah." Gibbs sounded tired. "I guess we've got our mole then."

"Yep. This bank is awesome though Gibbs. Really, I got to get enough money to bank here! Anyone hacks your account, they have this super-sophisticated software that instantly finds out where the hacker came from and lets the account owner know. It's incredible. We don't have this level of spyware." Abby, although concerned for her friends, couldn't help but get excited at the technology in front of her. "CIA doesn't have this level of protection, otherwise we'd have been busted days ago."

"Did McGee know about this spyware?"

"No way he could have. There's no sign of it in the system until you hack into the accounts, and even if you did know, you'd have to set up at least ten decoys and firewalls to protect your identity. And that probably wouldn't work." A deep sigh came from the other end of the line. "This is unbelievably good software Gibbs, it's more complex than any code I've seen in a long time –" She stopped abruptly and glared at the speakerphone.

"He hung up on you?" Ducky asked with a smile.

"I hate it when he does that."

"Now you know how I feel," the ME chuckled. He patted Abby on the shoulder as he left. "Gibbs will find them, my dear. He always does."


	16. Chapter 16

For once, Kate said nothing about his driving, as Gibbs flung the vehicle through the busy Kosovan streets. She didn't even flinch as they took one corner on two wheels, tyres screeching in protest. Gibbs shot her a quick look, noting the tense set of her jaw and the determined look in her eyes and nodded to himself. Kate and Tony might fight like cats and dogs, and she might tease McGee mercilessly, but God help anyone who hurt them. His own feelings on the matter were equally as clear cut. The only person who had the right to kill DiNozzo was him. The same for Kate and McGee.

They were heading for Paul Howard's house on the French military base. Gibbs only hoped they weren't too late. From what Kate had discovered in Howard's file, and Abby's computer skills, it was beyond doubt that Howard was their man. Gibbs only hoped Tony and McGee had known that when they went in.

He was going to kill DiNozzo, he fumed silently. First he wandered off into the night, and ended up following one of the most dangerous men in Kosovo, and now he walked merrily into the house of a CIA traitor, taking McGee with him. Death might be too kind, Gibbs thought murderously, before a treacherous voice at the back of his mind added that, so far, it had Tony who had provided most of the breaks in this case.

The French guards laconically waved them through, where they were met by the base commander, Colonel Pierre Vache. Colonel Vache did not look amused and Gibbs fought a groan as he realised things were about to get political, and that could be wasting vital seconds if Tony or McGee was hurt.

"So, Agent Gibbs, I have heard that I have a traitor in my midst," he snapped, eyes hard and demanding. Kate nervously checked her watch – it had been half an hour since they discovered Howard was the mole, but who knew how long since Tony and McGee had disappeared.

"Colonel, I'm sorry about this, but I need to find my agents," Gibbs snapped back. "You can take this matter up with the US government, but if you don't move out of my way, _right now_, I will have no choice left but to kill you."

Vache gave him a long, penetrating glance that made Gibbs feel mildly uncomfortable before he nodded shortly. "My men will escort you. This mess is not of your making Agent Gibbs, it would be wrong to blame you."

Gibbs allowed one of his rare smiles to bloom for a second, before he and Kate got back in their car to head towards Howard's house, accompanied by six soldiers, all armed, with their fury clear on their faces. Gibbs could understand how they felt – Howard fooled them all, and the USA had paid him to – but he was grateful for the French Colonel's attitude. It would have been easy, and legal, for him to delay and not help them.

"I thought we might be in trouble for a moment," Kate said softly, looking around at the soldiers.

"So did I," Gibbs replied grimly, as they circled Howard's bungalow, both drawing their weapons. The French soldiers had the place surrounded, and on Gibbs' nod, they all went in together.

There was no one there. To Kate's extreme frustration, the place was empty. Sweeping from room to room, she and Gibbs covered the ground floor of the house, ending up in the kitchen, where both NCIS agents froze in horror. Blood had pooled by one of the cabinets, creating a small, red moon on the floor.

Acting entirely on instinct, Gibbs snapped on a pair of latex gloves before he went any further. "How can you be so professional?" Kate cried out. "That could be Tony's blood! Or McGee's!"

"And that's why we need to process the scene," Gibbs retorted. A wave of shame suffused Kate's features. "Kate, we have only this house to tell us where they are."

"I know," she said slowly. "But we don't have any equipment with us."

"Then we'll just have to improvise."

Kate stepped carefully into the kitchen, and indicated the cell phone on the table. "That's Tony's phone. He'd never leave it behind willingly. Too many girls' numbers," she finished with a grimace.

"Blood trail leads towards the back door," Gibbs said, eyes glued to the floor as he followed it. "It looks like someone was hurt, but they weren't dragged, they walked by themselves."

Kate followed his line of sight. "Yeah, but look at the trail. It's not uniform, suggesting that whoever was hurt was limping slightly. Leg wound?"

Gibbs nodded, walking out of the door, still following the blood trail. "Good thinking. The trail leads out to the driveway, where it stops. They got in a car?"

Colonel Vache was watching the progress with an interested gleam in his eye. "Sergeant Rocher's car is still here," he said, before his mouth twisted, as though he had just bitten into a lemon. "I mean Paul Howard."

"And our hire car is here. They got into next door's car?" Gibbs thought aloud. "What was it?"

Vache looked at one of his soldiers who replied, "A Toyota Landcruiser, in red."

Vache rattled something off in French, too fast for Gibbs to follow completely, although he did catch something about the gate. "I asked them to check with the guards, to see if that vehicle left our base today."

"Thanks Colonel," Gibbs sighed. Which of his agents was hurt? It seemed fairly obvious that one of them was, otherwise Howard would be in custody by now. However dangerous the spy was, Gibbs was certain DiNozzo and McGee could easily take him if Howard had been injured. Plus there was the issue of transport. He ground his teeth together angrily. One of his people was hurt, and he had nothing to go on to help them out. Someone was going to pay for this.

"Whose blood do you think it is?" Kate asked quietly.

Gibbs looked at her pale face for a second before he answered. Kate was taking this just as badly as he was, he reminded himself. They were her team mates too. So, falsely jovial, he said, "DiNozzo probably managed to cut himself while he was distracted by a pretty girl." When the ex-Secret Service agent simply looked at him, Gibbs had to remind himself, yet again, that she was far tougher than she looked. Dropping the act, he said, "It probably was DiNozzo. McGee wouldn't have done anything stupid, whereas reckless is practically DiNozzo's middle name. Besides, Howard's more likely to view Tony as more of a threat than McGee."

Kate only nodded. When the soldier returned, with the news that a red Toyota Landcruiser had left the base an hour and a half ago, Gibbs balled his hands into fists and tried to resist the urge to hit someone. Luckily for the surrounding soldiers, his cell rang before he could act on that instinct.

He stared at the screen for a second. "It's McGee," he said softly.

"Well, aren't you going to answer it?" Kate said, reaching for the phone herself.

Gibbs shot her a warning look, and her hand dropped. "Gibbs."

"Agent Gibbs, I'm sure you can guess who this is." The voice on the end of the line smooth, and his accent sounded Mid-Western, which would fit with Howard's profile, Gibbs knew.

"Howard," he ground out. Kate's eyes opened wide and she began dialling her own phone. Gibbs heard her tell Abby to get a trace on where McGee's phone was, and smiled to himself. Howard would find this tougher than he thought. "What do you want?"

"To let you know how your agents are, of course."

There was a moment of silence, before McGee's voice came on the line. "Boss?"

"McGee, where the hell are you, and who got hurt?"

"Um, I don't know where we are, somewhere in the mountains I think, and Tony's been shot. He's bleeding pretty badly," McGee said, his voice trembling.

"We're on our way," Gibbs swore to the younger man. "Tell DiNozzo to hang in there, and that if he dies, I'll kill him."

"So now you know my position, Agent Gibbs," Howard's voice came back on the line. "I imagine you know what I've done. All I ask for is for you to turn a blind eye while I get out of this cursed country, and your agents will be fine. If you don't, well, Agent DiNozzo has plenty of other limbs I can shoot."

"Listen to me, you little…" Gibbs was interrupted before he could go any further by Howard's laughter.

"Threaten all you like Agent Gibbs. You have two hours, and then I expect to hear a decision." With that he hung up.

Gibbs turned expectantly to Kate, who shook her head. "Abby said she narrowed it down to the mountains, but he was gone before we got a precise location."

"Damn." That news broke the last of Gibbs' restraints on his temper, and he punched the side of the house hard. "We're going to get them back, Kate, and Paul Howard is going to pay for this." Looking into his hard blue eyes, Kate didn't doubt him for a second.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: OK folks, we're getting near the end now, and things are getting exciting. Hope you like it, as always, please read and review!

* * *

McGee glared at Howard as the spy hung up on Gibbs. Anger flared through the young agent at what Howard had threatened to do. It was bad enough that Tony had already been shot once, but now he was threatening to shoot Tony again? McGee gritted his teeth. It went against everything McGee had ever believed to hurt an injured man. 

Howard laughed when he saw the anger burning in McGee's eyes. "And what are you going to do about it kid?"

"Gibbs will find you. You won't get away," McGee said mechanically.

"Whatever. Don't wander off now." Howard laughed again as he walked out of the tiny room he had shoved McGee and Tony into.

"You're doing okay, Probie. And you're right, Gibbs will come." Tony's voice shocked him; he had thought the man was still unconscious. Tony had been drifting in and out of consciousness since Howard had ordered McGee, at gunpoint, to help him into the back seat of the Landcruiser. The first time he had passed out, McGee had thought he had died.

He turned to look at his fellow prisoner, faking a smile he didn't feel. "Awake again? What will Gibbs say when he finds out you've been snoozing on the job?" The smile faded away when he got a good look at Tony. His face was desperately pale, fine lines of pain radiating out around his eyes. Tony's usually perfect hairstyle was slicked down on his head with sweat, and McGee thought he'd never seen the man looked worse.

"That bad, huh?"

McGee shook his head, laughter bubbling up even now. "You look like hell. Edvina won't fancy you now." Tony laughed shortly, and tried to shift into a more comfortable position, hissing with pain as he jarred his leg. McGee knelt down next to him, and tried to look at the wound.

"Don't." Tony arched away from his touch, the shortness in his voice contrasting oddly with the plea in his eyes.

"I need to check it's not infected," McGee appealed. Tony shook his head, and McGee decided it would be simpler to wait until the man passed out again. He sat down next to Tony, both leaning back against the wall, and sighed. "Next time you suggest anything, whether it's a raid on a suspect's house or a film I should watch, I'm not listening."

"Hey, I'm the one that got shot!" Tony almost managed to sound like his usual self, and McGee had to admire his acting ability. Then, softly, Tony said, "He's using us as bargaining chips, isn't he? And I bet he's threatened to shoot me again, if he doesn't get what he wants."

"How did you know? I thought you were unconscious!"

"That's what I would do," Tony said simply. "Besides, Howard must know it will irritate the hell out of Gibbs."

McGee sighed and nodded. "So, if we don't want to put Gibbs in that position, we need to get out of here." Tony looked sideways at him, and smiled, despite the agonising pain in his leg. Probie was really starting to get the hang of this. McGee stood up and began pacing around the small, windowless room. "Only problem is, Tony, how are we going to do that?"

"Rules 4 and 9, Probie," Tony murmured as a wave of pain washed over him. He could feel himself beginning to lose his hold on consciousness. "Marines always improvise and always carry knives."

McGee frowned in concern as he saw what little colour Tony had drain away. Gently, he held a hand up against Tony's forehead and winced as the cold from his skin almost burnt him. Tony was freezing and his skin was getting clammy, shock obviously setting in, and combined with blood loss to weaken him even further. Gently, ever so gently and slowly, McGee bent over the injured man and eased up the leg of his jeans. The blood had stuck the material to Tony's skin and McGee flinched as the denim stuck and pulled at Tony's leg, eliciting a moan from the unconscious man.

Eventually, McGee managed to get a look at the wound. He had done the best he could, and his necktie was tied tightly just above the wound, as a very basic tourniquet. Blood was still seeping slowly out of the wound, although it had slowed considerably. Howard had allowed McGee to use the first aid kit in the bungalow, and all the bandages McGee had found there were now tightly bound around Tony's leg. Most were now stained crimson, with only a few patches of white remaining.

Still, the wound looked clean, considering the circumstances, and at least the bleeding had slowed down. McGee sat back in his former position against the wall, and sighed. "Marines might always carry a knife Tony, but I'm not a Marine." Closing his eyes, McGee wished desperately that someone else was here. Not that he wanted any of his friends in his position, but Kate or Gibbs would probably be dealing with this a whole lot better than he was. McGee wondered, not for the first time, if he was really cut out to be a field agent after all.

* * *

Isak and Edvina had both been horrified to learn that Tony and McGee had been kidnapped, and had instantly volunteered to help for as long as was necessary. When the US army had protested at the expense, Isak had, with great dignity, pointed out that when friends were in danger, money was no longer an issue. Kate and Edvina couldn't help but laugh as he again recounted this story of him facing down Colonel Hunter. Each time, his responses grew a little wittier and a little ruder. 

"And then I told him he could stick his offer where the sun does not shine!" Isak concluded.

Edvina, quietly, muttered, "He simply said it was not a matter of money. All this other talk – I don't know where that came from."

They were back at the Hotel Royal, waiting for more news. Gibbs was still at the French army base, going over everything Howard had done, in the hopes that something would indicate where he was heading. Kate had found Isak and Edvina waiting for her in their makeshift conference room, already beginning to sift through what little information they had.

Isak had a large map of the Šar Mountains, the mountain range around Prizren, which Abby had pinpointed as the location of Howard when he called Gibbs. Abby had only managed to roughly triangulate the position, due to the interference from the mountains, but Isak was marking out regions that were possibilities. Edvina was helping Kate go over Howard's file again, for what Kate calculated was the fifth time in the past hour, hoping for a single clue as to where he was.

Kate sat back, scrubbed an exhausted hand across her face and looked despairingly at Edvina. "It's hopeless. We've been over this file so many times I could recite it word for word, and we still don't have a clue where he would have gone. It's hopeless."

""Not quite," Isak said determinedly. "Howard would wish to stay away from big villages, yes? Well, that narrows it down, and I think if I go and speak with a few people, we might be able to find him. He would be noticeable."

Relief poured through Kate. It might not be an answer, but it was something to do, something more productive than flicking through a file again. "Great idea Isak," she said, snatching up her coat. "Let's go. Edvina, you stay here and tell Gibbs where we've gone."

"Agent Gibbs will not be happy to know you also have gone off without him," Edvina pointed out.

Kate paused at the door. "Agent Gibbs would do exactly the same himself. And I don't care what he thinks anyway," she added to herself as she followed Isak out of the hotel.


	18. Chapter 18

Edvina was nervously shuffling papers when Gibbs finally returned to the hotel. The US Army had not employed her simply for her translation skills – Edvina prided herself on her character assessment and observation skills, and to that end, she had made sure she had a large, strong, black coffee waiting for the ex-Marine when he came in. He gave her a strange look when she forced the cup into his hands before he had even had a chance to shrug off his jacket, but decided not to say anything until he had taken a grateful gulp of coffee.

"Where's Kate?"

Edvina went pale at the gruffness of his tone, and replied, "She went for a drive with Isak. They are looking in the mountains for Tony and McGee."

Gibbs stared at her uncomprehendingly for a second. "Start at the beginning, Edvina, and tell me why the hell they've got off by themselves." Once Edvina had taken him through it, he swore vehemently, before dialling a number on his cell. "Kate, what the hell do you think you are doing?" he barked. "I've had just about enough of you lot wandering off without me, but I thought you knew better!" He listened for a second or two before saying, "Kate, I can hear you hissing, don't pretend reception is poor! Don't try that trick – ". He broke off abruptly, snapped his cell phone shut, and glared at Edvina.

"Have they found anything?" she asked innocently.

He shook his head. "And we didn't find anything in his house either," he said tiredly. "Well, nothing that pointed to where he might have gone. And nothing that I can decipher," he said, shooting a glare at Howard's laptop. If looks could kill, the machine would have burst into flames.

"McGee was the one good at computers, no?" Edvina sighed. "I hope he and Tony are all right."

Not for the first time, Gibbs wished he knew more about computers. He seemed to be the only one in his team who couldn't use the damn things properly. His team. A light bulb went off in his brain as he thought that. Not all of his team were in this bloody country. He called Abby with a relieved smile.

"Hey bossman, any news?"

"Sorry Abs," he said, switching the phone to speaker and laying it on the table. "Nothing yet, but I think you might be able to help me. I need to look at Howard's laptop, and since McGee isn't here, you'll have to talk me through it."

"Spy-guy left his laptop behind? What a stupid thing to do! Well, first things first, you'll need to get into his hard drive."

"Abs, I haven't turned it on yet," Gibbs said, aware Edvina was now laughing at him.

"The power button is the big button on the side of the laptop," Abby said with extreme patience. "Is it on yet?"

"It's asking for a password."

"Type overwrite 360. If the laptop is CIA issue, it's the standard overwrite code for all of their software." Gradually, bit by bit, Abby talked him through the complexities of hacking. Gibbs gave up on trying to remember how she did it, and concentrated on typing exactly what she said. Once again, he made a mental note that Abby deserved a pay rise.

* * *

Isak and Kate were making their way around several of the areas Isak had marked out as possibilities. They came across several small villages, little more than hamlets really, but at each one, Isak stopped and asked around. News of an American in a new Toyota Landcruiser would be easy to track, once they found the right area. They had had no luck so far though, and Kate was beginning to doubt the wisdom of hanging up on Gibbs. 

"He will be mad?" Isak asked, when she explained why she was a little jumpy.

"Mad won't cover it," Kate said despondently. "He'll probably kill me, and then fire me."

Isak looked confused for a second, before he laughed, as the meaning of her words became clear. "But surely he will be pleased if you find Tony and McGee?"

"Yeah, he'll probably stop at just killing me then."

The next village hardly deserved the name. It was a collection of five houses, built around a mountain track, next to a small brook. One of the houses looked long abandoned, and another still had bullet holes in it from the war. An old man watched from the porch of one of the houses, eyes watchful and suspicious. No one else could be seen. Kate thought she'd rarely seen such a dreary place.

Isak approached the old man cautiously. They had already been chased away from one village by an angry man with a shotgun, who seemed to believe they were after taxes. Kate watched through the windshield as the two talked. To her surprise, this was a longer conversation than normal and Isak gestured towards her, before beckoning her over to them.

"He says he saw a red Landcruiser through here several hours ago," Isak said with a triumphant smile.

"Where? Where did they go?" Kate cried, forgetting that their witness did not speak English. The old man looked at her sadly before talking to Isak again.

"He says they went further up the mountain, and that he hopes you find your friends. He said he lost too many people in the war, and he would not like you to lose people you love," Isak translated.

On impulse, Kate leant forward and hugged the old man. "Thank you," she whispered. He nodded and, for a second, it didn't matter that neither understood the other's language.

* * *

Gibbs swore when he saw the number on his caller ID. Telling Abby to hang on, he put her on hold and picked up the phone to speak to Howard again. 

"What do you want?" he said gruffly.

"I think you know. Which arm would Agent DiNozzo most like to be shot in Agent Gibbs?"

"Wait! Don't, don't do that." Gibbs took a deep breath, aware that his boss would kill him for even thinking about bargaining with this man. But Tony's life hung in the balance. "I'm working on getting you transport out of Kosovo."

Howard laughed. "You expect me to believe that?"

"If you can just give me a couple more hours," Gibbs pleaded.

"Well, who would have thought it? The great Jethro Gibbs, begging." Howard laughed again and Gibbs swore privately that he would see the man dead at the end of all of this.

"Don't hurt my guys anymore. I just need a few more hours." Gibbs poured every ounce of sincerity in him into his voice.

Howard paused. "You really mean that?"

"Yeah I do."

"You've got another three hours Agent Gibbs. And then I want a result." Howard hung up.

Gibbs stared at his phone with unrestrained hatred. "Oh, you'll get a result Howard. Don't ever doubt me on that."

* * *

Tony was unconscious again. He had woken up again for a few minutes, long enough to give McGee the small knife he always carried, disguised as part of his belt buckle, before he had passed out again. McGee noted with concern that each time he drifted off, Tony seemed to sink a little deeper into unconsciousness. Not a good sign. Nor was his breathing, which was becoming more erratic and gasping. McGee knew that was another symptom of shock, and had done his best to keep him as warm as possible, but unless they got out of here soon, Howard was going to come and shoot Tony again. 

McGee looked around the small room again, hoping for inspiration. If he was Kate or Gibbs, he was sure he would have thought up a way out, but he was just Tim McGee, the Probie. He sat there, slumped against the wall, facing the door. Idly, he began playing with Tony's knife.

After a while, he stood up and examined the door a little closer. Excitement and apprehension rushed through him, and he shook Tony, trying to wake him up.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"Tony, I think I've got an idea."


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Just one chapter for now - I'm working on the final two chapters as we speak (or write). As always, please let me know what you think. Reviews are like Christmas presents - always exciting to receive!

* * *

McGee, bubbling with excitement, talked Tony through his plan and, to his extreme relief, Tony did not laugh or tease him, but instead listened seriously. Tony eased himself into a sitting position and tipped his head to one side, considering the lock on the door.

"I think you might have something there Probie." McGee all but glowed with pride and turned his attention back to the lock. It was a very simple affair, and showing signs of rust. With a little jimmying, McGee reckoned, it should be possible to unlock it. "One question: when did _you_ learn how to pick a lock?"

"Well, you throw rocks, Kate climbs in windows, I thought I should have another way of getting into houses," McGee shrugged, a little self-consciously. It was just so unusual for Tony to be treating him as an equal. Using Tony's knife, McGee cautiously wedged the blade into the keyhole, and turned it. A horrendous screech came from the lock, as rust scraped off. Both agents winced and froze in position, hoping Howard hadn't heard.

"Get on with it Probie, just do it quickly and get it over and done with," Tony advised.

"Like ripping off a plaster," McGee muttered. With a twist of his wrist, the knife turned in the lock, and, squealing in protest, the lock snapped open.

Opening the door slowly, McGee peered around the frame. It appeared they were in a log cabin, in what had probably been the pantry at one point, as the door led out into the kitchen. Howard was nowhere to be seen. What was more important, in McGee's eyes was the sight of the back door to the cabin, slightly ajar. He slipped out of the cabin, and took a swift look around the area. They were up in the mountains somewhere, not far below the tree line. Trees were sparse, and that meant cover would be too, McGee noted anxiously. If Howard found out they had escaped, they could be sitting ducks. They didn't have much choice though.

He went back into their erstwhile prison. Tony was still conscious, but he was blinking rapidly, as though trying to wake himself up. They had to get out of here fast, before Howard came back or Tony passed out again. With that thought in mind, McGee heaved the taller man to his feet, and staggered slightly as Tony's weight came down on his shoulder.

"Let's just get outside, and away from here, huh?" McGee forced a little optimism into his voice. "Come on, we'll probably bump into Gibbs coming the other way!"

McGee knew Tony was bad, when that comment failed to raise a smile, or even a witty comeback. Tony merely grunted. They made their way slowly out of the cabin, McGee wincing every time Tony moaned in pain. He had to admire the other man, though. Despite the agony this walk must be costing Tony, he never slowed down, or asked to stop. They were about a hundred yards from the cabin, nearly at the first large cluster of fir trees, when they heard a shout from behind them.

"Howard's noticed we've gone. Come on Probie, we need to hide." To McGee's utter astonishment and admiration, Tony somehow managed to speed up and hobble to the trees in record time. Once there, safely hidden behind the branches, Tony sank wearily to the ground, blood draining from his face. His breath was coming in irregular gasps and he closed his eyes, not wanting McGee to see the tears that had appeared there. He always forgot how much getting shot hurt.

McGee watched Howard through the branches. The spy glanced around the area quickly, before running back into the cabin and reappearing carrying what looked like a double-barrelled shotgun. Their meagre cover would not hide them for long. They needed to keep moving, and hope they ran into someone who could help them. Where the hell was Gibbs?

* * *

"You're a genius Abby." 

"I know." Even down the phone line, Gibbs could hear her pleasure at the simple compliment. She had talked him into Howard's computer and he was now staring at an email from Vladan Mandic, which gave directions to a log cabin in the mountains that Howard could always use if things got tricky.

"I have to go Abs," he said clipping on his gun.

"Go get 'em tiger," she said, hanging up. Gibbs made another quick call to Colonel Vache, before he dialled Kate's number.

A very excited Kate answered the phone. "Gibbs! I was just going to call you. I think we're on the right track. We should be able to find them soon."

"I have the address Kate," he replied dryly.

"What?" she yelped. "How?"

"Don't worry about that just now. Where are you?" As Kate told him their exact location, Gibbs was already heading out of the hotel.

A short drive later, he was at a helipad near the outskirts of Pristina. The Gazelle helicopter did not touch down, but simply hovered above the ground, waiting for Gibbs. He wasted no time, and the helicopter was soon zooming off towards the Šar Mountains. Gibbs turned to Colonel Vache, now kitted out in combats and carrying a rather large machine gun, accompanied by three other soldiers. "Thanks for this Colonel!" he yelled, to be heard over the noise of the engine.

"We want him as much as you," the French Colonel replied, his mouth set and hard. Gibbs almost felt sorry for Howard, just for a second, before he refocused on the task ahead.

Kate and Isak were where they said they would be, and Kate left Isak to get the car back to Pristina and update Edvina on what was happening, while she joined Gibbs in the Gazelle. Howard's log cabin appeared on the horizon, and the helicopter was set down next to it, the soldiers leaping out and surrounding the place. The storming of the log cabin was handled so professionally and efficiently by the French that Gibbs, for once, felt no need to interfere or even take part. When Kate commented on this, Gibbs indicated one of the symbols sewn on Vache's jacket.

"Kate, this guy is in the _Chasseurs Alpins_. The elite mountain troops in the French army. I think we're probably better off leaving him to it."

Vache reappeared a minute later, shaking his head. "There is no one there, but I think you should see this." He led Gibbs and Kate into the cabin and through into the kitchen. There, they could see the door to the pantry, and that it had been forced open. Inside, there were a few spots of blood, and a discarded bandage, stained scarlet.

"McGee and Tony must have escaped," Kate said, looking around.

"They're NCIS agents Kate. I wouldn't expect anything less of DiNozzo and McGee." Gibbs' voice was thick with pride. "Come on Kate, Colonel, we've got to find them before Howard does."


	20. Chapter 20

Gibbs, Kate and the four soldiers spread out into formation and began to sweep down the mountainside, hoping for any sign of Tony, McGee or Howard. They didn't get far before Colonel Vache spotted a couple of drops of blood, under some fir trees. Gibbs bent down to study them, anger that his people should be hurt pounding in his head so hard it made his eyeballs ache.

"Blood spatter says they were running that way," he growled.

"I thought your man had been shot in the leg," Vache queried. "How the hell could he be running?"

"Tony's a lot tougher than he lets people believe," Gibbs said, almost managing a proud smile. "Colonel, if you and your men circle around, Kate and I will go straight down the middle, and we should be able to cut off any escape."

The Colonel quickly acquiesced to this plan, and they split into three groups of two. Gibbs' prediction about the skills of Vache and his men proved accurate as they disappeared into the sparse forest without a sound. Kate followed Gibbs' lead as they began following the blood trail. It was relatively easy, even though the droplets were few and far between, as the blood showed up clearly against the earth. Kate tried to forget whose blood it was, but it was too easy to imagine Tony bleeding and maybe dying. Shaking her head, as though to dislodge such unpleasant images, Kate pressed on.

* * *

Every inch of him ached, Tony decided bleakly. No, ached didn't even begin to cover what he was feeling. Every inch of him _throbbed_ with pain. He was reaching the end of his endurance, he knew, every breath dragged into his lungs with a ragged gasp. They had covered quite a bit of ground, but Tony could still hear Howard closing in on them. He needed a break, but knew they shouldn't stop. 

Abruptly, the decision was made for him as he slipped on an uneven patch of earth and tumbled head over heels down the slope. McGee rushed up to him, as he lay there, dazed. "Tony, you've got to get up!" McGee tried to heave him to his feet, but the older man's weight was too great.

"McGee, have you ever seen _The Guns of Navarone_?"

"This is no time for film trivia!" McGee snapped.

Tony continued as though he hadn't heard. "In it, Major Franklin, played by Anthony Quayle, is badly injured and stays behind to hold off the German pursuit, even though he knows he'll die. Run Probie. I've got your back."

McGee stared at him horrified. "I'm not leaving you."

"That was an order Tim." Tony smiled at him, and said firmly, "Go."

"No," McGee replied, equally firm. The unmistakeable sound of a gun being cocked snapped both of their heads around.

"Hello again gentlemen," Howard said softly. "Enjoying your afternoon walk?" When they only glared at him, he laughed. "Much as I hate to interrupt what was obviously a touching team moment, I think we should be heading back now." Neither moved and he fired a shot into the ground next to Tony's leg. "Next one goes through his shoulder. Move!"

* * *

The sound of gunfire ricocheted through the forest. Gibbs and Kate exchanged worried looks, and Kate was mollified slightly to see real concern in Gibbs' eyes, before they both broke into a run. Gibbs scanned the forest as he sprinted in the direction of the shot, hoping for a sight of Vache or his men, wanting to communicate with them. But the French soldiers' woodcraft skills were far above his own, and he neither saw nor heard anything of them as he dashed through the trees. 

A bright flash of blue cloth made him grind to a halt, Kate skidding to a stop next to him. Hoping he wasn't breathing too loudly, and making a mental note that he was getting old, as such a short run shouldn't make him pant, Gibbs peered hesitantly through the trees. The tableau in front of him sent a chill of fear through him. Tony was lying on the ground, McGee crouched over him, while Howard covered them both with his shotgun.

While he could just shoot Howard now, that would be murder, but warning the man might put his team in a more dangerous position. What he needed was back-up, but where the hell was Vache? Kate, next to him, made a circling motion with one hand, and pointed to the direction she would take. He nodded, and they split up, circling the three men, all unaware of their presence.

Once in position, Gibbs aimed his weapon at Howard and stepped calmly into the clearing, hoping like hell that Kate was covering him. McGee and Howard both looked shocked at Gibbs' sudden appearance, but Tony smiled and waved. "Hey boss."

"DiNozzo, what have I told you about lying down on the job?" Gibbs tried not to look at the younger man, not wanting to be distracted by Tony's too pale face and the blood seeping from the wound in his leg. Instead he focused on Howard. "Are you going to do this the easy way, or the even easier way?"

"What's the difference?" Howard sneered, but McGee thought he looked a lot less confident than he had five minutes earlier.

"The easy way," Gibbs replied, still talking in that deceptively calm tone of voice, "is for you to surrender, put down your weapon and be arrested and charged for the crimes you have committed. The even easier way is for you to stand still, not surrender, and my partner will shoot you in the head. Less paperwork, you see," he added. Howard's head jerked around and his eyes widened as he saw Kate, her weapon trained on him. _And now he's concentrating on three groups of people, _Gibbs thought with some satisfaction.

"I'm not going to prison," Howard said, his eyes flickering from Gibbs, to Tony and McGee, over to Kate and back to Gibbs again.

"Oh, good," Kate smiled, her voice hard enough to match the cold expression on her face. "That means less paperwork." She stepped in a little, and ostentatiously took the safety catch off her gun.

Now Howard was focused more on Kate. Gibbs sidled slowly forward, quiet and deadly. "No, now hang on a minute," Howard began. "I'm sure we can work something out."

"Would you like to be buried or cremated?" Kate asked brightly, her face still cold and hard.

Gibbs reversed his grip on his gun, now holding it by the barrel, and stepped in behind Howard. He swung the gun, hitting the spy behind the ear with the butt of his Sig. Howard dropped like a stone, hitting the ground with a bump. Gibbs let Kate handcuff the unconscious man while he went to check on Tony.

"How're you doing?" he asked gently, kneeling down.

Tony's face was grey with pain now, his eyes tight with agony. But he smiled cheerily as he said, "Not too bad boss, all things considered. Shame you didn't just shoot him."

Gibbs declined to answer, looking around for Vache and his men. They appeared shortly afterwards, Vache leading them, looking slightly sheepish. "And where the hell have you been?"

"Ah, we circled a little too far. When we heard the gunshots, we made our way here as soon as we could," Vache said innocently. A little too innocently, if Gibbs was feeling particularly cynical. But the man had been very helpful so far, so Gibbs dropped the matter.

One of the French soldiers, a man named Clement, helped Gibbs as they formed a makeshift chair with their arms to carry Tony back up the hill to the waiting helicopter. McGee, after being told categorically that they could cope without his help, assisted Kate in dragging Howard, who had barely regained consciousness, towards the helicopter.

"Hey," Howard called out, after Kate and McGee managed to drag him through a patch of thistles, "you can't treat me like this!"

McGee, expression blank, replied, "Would you prefer it if we treated you how you treated us?" Howard wisely decided to shut up.


	21. Chapter 21

Gibbs watched Tony being taken away by the doctors for emergency surgery on his leg at the French army base with a cold, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Although both the doctors and Tony himself had assured him that Tony would recover, Gibbs wouldn't relax until he had seen hard evidence of that. He had left Howard in the custody of Kate and McGee, who were driving the spy back to the Hotel Royal, while he had accompanied DiNozzo to the hospital. The younger man hadn't said anything, but Gibbs had seen the soft smile and the almost undetectable relaxation of Tony's shoulders.

Colonel Vache was waiting outside the hospital for him. "I thought you would like a lift back to your hotel, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs nodded his gratitude and climbed into the passenger seat. "So where were you really, while Kate and I were doing all the hard work?"

Vache smiled to himself as he drove, not looking at Gibbs. He gave a very Gallic shrug. "You needed to rescue your people yourself, my friend. I saw how hard you took their capture, and I know how you feel. I have lost men myself. It is never easy."

"So you were just going to watch us?"

"No, we had you surrounded. Howard could not have escaped, nor could he have hurt anyone. There were three rifles trained on him at any one time from the second you stepped into the clearing." Gibbs thought about arguing, but settled for an annoyed grunt. After all, he admitted sourly to himself, Vache was right. He had needed to get Tony and McGee back himself. He was their boss – they were his responsibility.

Kate was on the phone to Abby when he got back to the hotel, reporting back on the rescue mission. From the sounds of it, and by the looks of the notes Kate was taking, Abby was listing every possible thing Tony might want to help him feel better. Kate waved at him, and gestured down into the basement. Gibbs went back to where they had briefly imprisoned Ardien Dragan and where Lumni Castirovic was still patiently waiting for them all to return.

Howard was handcuffed to a chair with McGee watching him carefully. Gibbs pointedly ignored the spy and instead went to chat to Castirovic. "How are you keeping Lumni?"

"I've been better," the man snapped.

"Well, I'm making an executive decision here," Gibbs said, smiling. "And you'll be feeling a lot better. You gave us the information that led to us catching that sonofabitch, and I'm going to reward you for that. You were going to be charged with organised crime and gunrunning, but I think you should just be handed over to the KPS to be charged with misdemeanour offences. Always providing, of course, that you're prepared to give evidence at that idiot's trial."

Castirovic, hardly daring to believe his luck, promised enthusiastically to give whatever evidence Gibbs wanted. Then he turned to Howard. "So, Paul, I don't have to talk to you after all. I've already got everything I need. You're going down for a very long time." He turned away from the spy, leaving him mouthing silently in shock, and walked to the door. Then he turned back. "One question though. Did you kill Jed Franklin and Caleb Smithson?"

"I'm not dumb enough to admit to anything," Howard said wearily.

"Just dumb enough to keep the murder weapon," McGee retorted. "There was a hunting knife in the log cabin, boss, and I bet that would match the wounds of our two corporals." Howard went a shade paler.

"Nice work McGee."

* * *

Tony came around from the surgery slowly, blissfully aware that the pain had faded. That was just the morphine, but it still felt good. The bed felt luxuriously soft as well, after the hard floor of the log cabin. All in all, he was feeling pretty damn good about life. That feeling only increased when an extremely pretty nurse came in, her blonde hair cropped short in an elegant French bob. 

"Hi," he smiled. "Did anyone ever confuse you with an angel and think they'd died and gone to Heaven?"

The nurse bent over and fluffed up his pillow for him and checked his vital signs, smiling at him. "_Pardon, monsieur, mais je ne comprends pas." _Tony ground his teeth, his perfect wake-up getting a little bit worse. His French wasn't good enough to flirt properly, all he could do was order food and drink.

The nurse smiled again, and left his room. Outside she shook her head and laughed. Kate and McGee were waiting. "He is always like that?" the nurse asked in perfect English.

"When he's feeling OK," Kate replied wryly. The nurse shook her head again, and continued on her rounds. Kate and McGee knocked on the door, and went inside. "How are you doing?" she asked, seating down next to the bed.

"Way better," he chirped. "I'm practically perfect again. Like Mary Poppins," he added. At their bemused smiles, he grinned. "Morphine is a wonderful drug you know. What's happening with Howard?"

"Gibbs yelled at him," McGee said, somewhat smugly. "We've got him for the murders of our two corporals and kidnapping and treason and everything else. Colonel Hunter came down from the American base and yelled at him too. I think Howard preferred Hunter yelling at him though."

Tony nodded absently, feeling the drugs kicking in as he fought to stay awake. He yawned loudly and the visitors stood to go. "We'll come back in a bit," Kate assured him.

The next time he woke up, Gibbs was sitting there, watching him. "Jeez, boss! You shouldn't sneak up on people."

"I didn't sneak. You were asleep." Gibbs paused and bit his lip. "You OK?"

"Yeah," Tony replied easily. Both men knew he was lying, neither chose to mention it. "Everything going well with you?"

"Yeah." Again, neither mentioned the obvious lie.

"Hunter's mad we didn't tell him what we knew?"

"Hunter's mad we involved the French army before the Americans," Gibbs rejoined, a slight smile lighting his features. "Another successful mission for NCIS – we've irritated another branch of the government."

"Good for us." Tony shifted to a more comfortable position. "So when do I get out of here, and when do we get back to the good ol' US of A?"

"You've been shot, you're suffering from shock and you recently underwent emergency surgery," Gibbs reminded him.

"And I'll get better faster at home."

Gibbs grinned and nodded. "We're busting you out of here tomorrow, assuming you're OK. There's a private jet waiting for us at Pristina International. Apparently the CIA wants to thank us."

"Cool!"

"Oh, and DiNozzo?"

"Yeah boss?"

Gibbs stood and lightly hit Tony on the head. "Don't ever suggest staying behind to die heroically again. You're far more use to me alive."

Tony smiled widely, a delighted flush on his cheeks. "Will you repeat that when Kate can hear?"

"Not for a million bucks." Both men laughed. Gibbs left Tony to get some more rest. He was looking forward to getting out of Kosovo, not least because he was missing working on his boat. It was good to know he was bringing his whole team home with him. He made a mental note not to let DiNozzo watch any more heroic war movies. They obviously had a bad influence on him.

He chuckled to himself as he left the French base. He still had a couple of last jobs to do. One of them was take Isak and Edvina out for a thank-you meal. The other was to go and get royally drunk with Colonel Vache. He grinned: Kosovo wouldn't know what hit it.

* * *

Whew - that got a little more exciting at the end than I had originally planned! Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed, every comment is appreciated. If you have already reviewed, why not leave me your final thoughts? If you haven't reviewed, why not let me know what you think of the whole thing? Come on, give it a go. And as Clement Clark Moore wrote, in his famous poem 'Twas the Night before Christmas': _Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night! _


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